2 
Scott. — On the Fertile Shoots of 
specimen will be considered later, but in the first instance it will be most 
satisfactory to describe a much better preserved example from another 
series ; 1 though not actually associated with a stem, many leaves of the 
Mesoxylon type are present, and the structure of the shoot itself leaves 
no doubt as to its nature. 
The first section of this series is an important one and is fully illustrated 
(Text-fig. i ; PL III, Figs. 17-19). The main part of the specimen is 
a much flattened, apparently naked axis, in approximately transverse 
section, measuring about 6-5 x 1-5 mm. (Text-fig. 1). It has an extremely 
long and narrow stele, just as in the well-known axillary shoots of M. multi- 
rame (Scott, 1918 , PI. XIII, Fig. 22). The secondary wood is 3-5 elements 
thick ; where the stele is least collapsed, groups of irregularly arranged 
elements with somewhat thick walls are seen at the inner edge of the 
A 
Text-FIG. i. Transverse section of fertile shoot, A, and its branch, B. For details see Plate III, 
Figs. 17-19. x 12. S. 2781. From a drawing by Mr. G. T. Gwilliam. 
secondary zone, and may possibly represent the centripetal xylem of the 
stele, though the other sections lend little support to this interpretation 
(PI. Ill, Fig. 18). The stele is branching ; at one end a small round stele 
with little or no pith is passing out, and immediately beyond it a small distal 
bundle is seen (PL III, Fig. 19). These features are very constant wherever 
this phase of branching is observed. 
At the opposite end of the section (B) there is a large branch detached, 
but obviously broken off from the main shoot (Text-fig. 1 ; PL III, Fig. 17). 
It bears bracts, seen both in connexion with the branch and just free ; each 
bract has a single vascular bundle. The branch itself has a rounded stele, 
with its bundles somewhat widely spaced, and a considerable pith. 
The branch is also giving off a distal appendage (cut obliquely), clearly 
subtended by one of the bracts, which ensheathes it (Pl. III, Fig. 17). This 
appendage therefore seems to be a secondary branchlet. The presence of 
Sections S. 2781-95. Ail the specimens described in this paper are from Shore, Littleborough. 
