Vol. XII.] 
[Part I. 
PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
YORKSHIRE 
GEOLOGICAL AND POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY. 
Edited by JAMES W. DAVIS, F.S.A., F.G.S., &c. 
1891. 
ON THE PRESENT STATE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE YORKSHIRE 
CALAMITY. BY THOMAS HICK, B.A., B.SC, ASSISTANT LECTURER 
IN BOTANY, OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER. 
In matters of science, as well as in those of commerce and 
industry, it is well periodically to take stock of our possessions, 
estimate our gains and our losses, and endeavour to discover how 
and in what directions our success in the future may be greater than 
it has been in the past. In attempting to do this for the fossil 
plants known as the Calamity, I am moved by the hope that a fresh 
impulse may be given to Yorkshire Palaeophytology, and as a result 
of this, that the gaps which at present exist in our knowledge of 
these plants may be speedily filled up. 
It will be observed from the title of the paper that it is limited 
to the Yorkshire Calamitce ; but a further limitation will be found 
in the fact that I deal chiefly with those specimens which have their 
structure preserved in a more or less perfect condition, and which 
enable us to learn something of their anatomy and histology. I 
have no desire to mimimise the value of the casts and impressions 
of Calamitce which are so abundant in the Coal Measures, for on 
many points their evidence is of the highest possible value. But 
however much they may teach us as to the external form of 
Calamitce and the mutual relations of their various organs, the 
