NOTE 
ON THE OCCURRENCE OF SIGILLARIOPSIS IN THE LOWER COAL- 
MEASURES OF BRITAIN. — In 1879, M. Renault, in his classical work 4 Structure 
comparde de quelques tiges de la flore carbonifbre/ established the genus Sigillariopsis 
for a small silicified stem, with leaves attached, from the Permian of Autun ; he named 
the species S. Decaisnei 1 . The general character of the fossil is Lycopodiaceous ; the 
stem resembles Sigillaria Menardi in structure, but has the peculiarity that the outer 
tracheides of the secondary wood are pitted and not scalariform, a character which 
seems to be unknown elsewhere among Palaeozoic Lycopods. The leaves are even 
more remarkable, for each leaf contains two parallel vascular bundles, except towards 
the apex where they unite into one. No member of the Lycopodiales, recent or fossil, 
is known to present this character. Yet the details of structure described by 
M. Renault agree very closely with those of a Sigillarian or Lepidodendroid leaf, 
except for the presence, here as in the stem, of pitted tracheides in addition to those of 
the usual scalariform type. M. Renault regarded his genus as establishing a bond of 
union between the smooth-barked Sigillariae and the Cordaiteae, a view which is 
connected with his general theory of the origin of the Gymnosperms, and which it 
would take too long to discuss in this preliminary note. 
Hitherto no other fossil referable to the genus Sigillariopsis has been described. 
Recently, however, two specimens have come under my observation which agree with 
M. Renault's genus in so far as they are Lycopodiaceous leaves with two vascular 
bundles. Both specimens occur in calcareous nodules from the Lower Coal- 
Measures of Lancashire ; the one, which I received about three years ago, came from 
the well-known locality at Dulesgate, while the other, which only reached me this 
spring, is derived from a new source, lately opened up, at Shore Littleborough. The 
material in which the leaves occur was in each case collected and prepared by 
Mr. J. Lomax. 
The Shore Littleborough specimen is better preserved than the other and may 
therefore be first described. Two leaves are shown, both in transverse section. The 
larger is about 4 mm. wide by 1-4 mm. in maximum thickness. The lower surface is 
strongly convex, the upper more or less flat, but with a shallow median depression. 
The leaf thins out rapidly towards its edges, and on each side is a deep and narrow 
furrow, on the sides of which the stomata appear to have been placed. Thus the form 
of the section is that characteristic of the leaves of Lepidodendron and Sigillaria 2 . 
The mesophyll, which is almost perfectly preserved, has a well-marked palisade- 
layer on the upper side, interrupted about the median line. In the narrow wings of 
the leaf, and extending round the lateral furrows, characteristic spongy parenchyma 
is present. A sclerotic hypoderma extends all round the leaf, except at the lateral 
1 1. c. p. 270, PL XII, Fig. 15-19; PI. XIII, Figs. 1-4. 
3 Renault, Flore fossile d’ Autun et d’Epinac, Part II, Atlas, PI. 34 and 41 ; Scott, Studies 
in Fossil Botany, Fig. 59. 
