Analyses of Books. 
m 
Mr. Brown and Mr. Loddiges, they immediately recognised a resemblance to the 
genera Zamia and Cycas which compose the existing family of Cycadese, a resem- 
blance which further investigation has tended fully to establish.” Their structure 
will perhaps he best explained bv a detailed comparison. 
« In the Zamia horriila of the Cape of Good Hope, the transverse sectmn exhibits 
one narrow circle, composed of radiating plates, placed in the cellular substance 
that forms the stem or body of the plant; and nearly at equal distances between its 
centre and circumference, and in a section near the base of Cycas revoluta, we have 
two narrow circles of radiating plates, placed also in the cellular substance that forms 
the stem, and both of them nearer to the centre than to the circumference of the 
plant; the outermost of these circles is the most narrow. Neither Zamia nor Cycas 
has anv covering of true bark, hut the stem is enclosed in a thick case made up of 
the persistent bases of decayed leaves : each of these terminates externally in a lozenge 
shaped impression or scari the convex surface of which formed the joint from winch 
a leaf had fallen off. A dense and continuous series of these leaf joints entirely 
surrounding the stem gives it more the appearance of a pine apple*, or enormous 
fir cone, than of a vegetable trunk. On comparing these peculiarities of structure 
with those displayed -in ouv fossil specimens, we recognize a correspondence highly 
curious and satisfactory. Like the recent Cycadeae, our fossil stems are inclosed 
in no true bark, but have a thick case made up of the flat persistent bases of decay- 
ed leaves, which at their inner extremity touch the cellular tissue of the body of the 
trunk, and terminate externally in an oblong gibbous joint resembling the leaf joints 
of Zamia horriila. These liases of leaves rise upwards and are most perfect near 
the summit of the trunk : but lower down, the oldest of them lie horizontally and 
at right angles to the trunk, which they entirely encircle, and are more and more 
compressed as they are nearer to the root. In form, position, and structure, as far as 
it can be recognized, these parts resemble what we find in the recent Cycadeae ; as 
yet no leaves have been found adherent to any of the fossil plants. At the summit 
of most of them is a cavity, the contents of which appear to have been removed be- 
fore petrifaction took place : the relation of this cavity to the trunk and leaves may 
be «een by comparison with living plants of Zamia horrida, Cycas circtnahs, and 
Cycas revoluta, referred to in the notef. Although the trunk is so tall in C. cir- 
cinalis as sometimes to exceed 30 feet in height, it rarely attains 6 feet ; in C. re- 
voluta, and in other species it is much shorter. 
The trunk of many Zaraias is also very short. In the fossil specimens yet dis- 
covered, it varies from five inches to a foot in height, and from eight to fifteen in- 
ches in diameter. They are generally terminated downwards by a broad flat base 
without any adherent roots ; hut traces of the commencement of roots, having a 
cavity at their centre, are visible in Sir G. Grey’s specimens. At the base of other 
specimens there is only a coarse irregular reticulation, apparently connected with 
the commencement of roots. The interior of these stems presents two varieties of 
structure which wc find accompanied respectively by a corresponding variation of 
external form, size, and character in the bases of the leaves. These differences are 
sufficient, in the opinion of Mr. Browne, to establish a new family, to which we may 
refer the two extinct species before us, the one resembling a recent Zamia, the other 
a recent Cycas ; and to which from its near approximation to the existing family of 
Cycadeae, the name of Cycadeoideae seems appropriate.” , 
“ In the largest and most abundant species ( Cycadeoietla megalophylla) the bas- 
es of the leaves vary from one to three inches in length, having nearly the form and 
size of those of Zamia horrida , and measuring from one-fourth of an inch in the 
shorter, and from one to two inches in the longer diameterof their transverse, section. 
The trunk is short and flat, and exhibits a deep cavity at its summit resembling a 
bl “ The origin and use of this cavity is rendered perfectly intelligible by comparing 
it with that at the summit of the Cycas revoluta which bore fruit at Farnham, m 
1799, of which a description and plate are given by Sir J. Smith,., lilts cavity is 
surrounded with a magnificent crown of leaves, whose stalks are set round its mar- 
* In the plate it has exactly this appearance. — E. G. 
f “ See in plate XLVX. fig. 4. a plant of Z. horrida ; and in Curtis s Bot. Mag. 
for June 1828, pi. 282(1, a male plant of C. circinalis in flower ; and in Trans. Lin. 
Soc. Vol. VI. pi. 29, a female plant of C, revoluta ill fruit.” 
* Tr, Lin. Soc. pi. 2?. p. 312. 
