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THE AFFINITY OF DADOXYLON TO CORDAITES. 
BY JAS. SPENCER. 
There is a large tree-like fossil occasionally found in sandstone 
rocks of the Carboniferous formation called Dadoxylon. The affinity 
of this remarkable plant has been generally supposed to be with the 
pine family ; but recent discoveries have shown that it has more 
affinity with the Cycadeae than with the Coniferse. My paper deals 
with the various discoveries which have been made in connection 
with Dadoxylon, more especially with those of recent years. Many 
of the sandstone rocks of the Carboniferous age abound in fragments 
of a very curious fossil ; occasionally they occur in their natural 
rounded form, but more frequently they are more or less flattened. 
They are characterised by having a series of somewhat irregular ring- 
like markings along the whole length of the stem ; more commonly 
the markings somewhat resemble the rings of a ladder, and many of 
them are striated longitudinally. For a long time these singular 
fossils were thought to have been distinct plants, and were named 
Sternbergia by Artis, in honour of Count Sternberg, one of the founders 
of the Science of Fossil Botany. At about the same time, or a little 
before, Steinberg gave them the name of Artisia transversa ; but in 
this country they have generally been known under the name of 
Sternbergia transversa. In the same sandstone quarries there occur 
along with Sternbergia transversa, but much more rarely, fragments 
of another fossil plant of a larger and more tree-like aspect. These 
specimens generally occur in the form of roundish stems, and of 
various thicknesses and lengths. When found in situ, in the quarry, 
they are usually enveloped in a thin layer of smudgy coal, which is 
probably the mineralized remains of the bark. In many places 
specimens have been found with portions of their original woody 
structure well preserved, and microscopic sections of this woody 
structure show that it closely resembled that of the Pine family. I 
have come across many specimens of this character in sandstone 
quarries, but for the purpose of tracing the history of the discoveries 
