Monthly Microscopical"! 
Journal, Feb. 1, 1869. J 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
135 
The cones, whether proceeding from the nodes of the stem in 
whorls, or at the end of the branches, have at their bases delicate 
leaves (Asterophyllites). The stem of the branch to which the cone is 
attached in the last-named specimen is remarkably slight for the size 
of the cone, a character which appears very common with regard to 
the ol'gans of fructification of coal plants at the end of branches. Of 
course, the axis of the cone is only a prolongation of the stem of the 
plant. In the Ewood Bridge specimens as yet no evidence has been 
obtained as to the spores contained in their sporangia to identify them 
with the cones of Galamodendron commune ; but as to their external 
characters, the one very much resembles the other, and although found 
in different localities, the fossils occupy about the same geological 
position in the Lancashire Coal Field. One thing appears pretty 
certain, namely, that these small cones are organs of fructification of 
Calamites of some kind, and at present my observations lead me to the 
conclusion that they are the organs of fructification of the Galamodendron 
commune, or a plant very nearly allied to it, and having a similar 
structure. They do not afford us any information of the anatomy of 
the plant like my coal specimens ; but they show us the characters 
of the leaves, and the connection of the organs of fructification with 
the stem of the plant. 
January 12^/i.— E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., in the chair.~Mr. 
Binney said that at the meeting of the Society on the 1st December 
last, he brought before the members the valuable discovery of Professor 
Adolphe Brongniart of a fossil cone, containing both microspores and 
macrospores, and showed that it belonged to a plant of the carboni- 
ferous epoch. It has long been supposed that Lepidostrohus was the 
fructification of Lej)idodendron, but no further evidence of the fact had 
been adduced than that which Dr. J. D. Hooker, F.R.S., had given, 
by finding the cones in the insides of Lepidodendro7i Harcourtii and 
elegans, which could only be considered of a very unsatisfactory nature. 
In a cone in the author's possession, in every way similar to the late 
Dr. Eobert Brown's celebrated specimen of Triplosporite, but having 
the column in a more complete state of preservation, there is most 
conclusive evidence from internal structure that the Trijplosjporite is 
the fruit of Lejpidodendron Harcourtii, the pith vascular cylinder, vas- 
cular bundles communicating with the leaves or scales, and the outer 
cylinder being the same in the cone as in the stem, thus justifying 
Mr. Carruther's opinion that the cone was a Lepidostrohus. The 
large spores found in a Lepidostrohus described by Dr. Hooker in the 
2nd volume of the Memoirs of the Geological Survey, as well as simi- 
lar specimens found by the author in coal at Wigan, and described in 
the ' Quarterly Journal ' of the Geological Society for May, 1849, are 
most probably both macrospores of the fructification of Lepidodendron, 
and having come from the lower portion of a cone, whilst Dr. Brown's 
were from the upper part. The same may be said of Professor Morris' 
specimen, belonging to Mr. Prestwich, from Colebrook Dale, described 
and figured in Vol. V. of the ' Transactions of the Geological Society,' 
published in 1840, which clearly came from the lower portion of a 
cone of Lepidodendron. 
L 2 
