2 1 8 Seward. — Notes on the Geological 
the axis of the stem ; unfortunately the wood-like texture is 
the result of the crystallization of carbonate of lime, and not 
organic. 
Probably this central cavity represents the pith and a 
portion of the wood of the original stem. 
The largest specimen in the British Museum collection 
measures 41 cm. in length and 15 cm. in breadth; this and 
some of the other examples show a number of distinct scars 
which probably mark the position of lateral buds 1 . 
In some species of the recent Cycad Zamia , e.g. Zamia 
Skinneri , Warsz., zf. Loddigesii, Miq., if. Fischer i, and if. 
pumila , L. the stem differs very considerably in external 
characters from the usual cycadean trunk with its charac- 
teristic armour of petiole-bases. In this less familiar form 
the surface is marked by irregular and transverse shallow 
grooves, and there are frequently found numerous oval corky 
protuberances scattered irregularly over the surface of the 
stem 2 . In PI. XIV, Fig. 2, a portion of a stem of Zamia 
Skinneri is drawn natural size, and in Fig. 3 part of a much 
branched trunk of if. Loddigesii. A comparison of the two 
figures with Fig. 3 reveals a fairly striking resemblance. It 
is not proposed to rely on this correspondence, as regards 
external features, to the extent of describing the Maidstone 
fossils as cycadean stems, but simply to draw attention to 
the possibility of such an identification being correct. In the 
stem of Pandanus there is a distinct similarity to that of 
Dracaena Benstedtii , but on close examination the former 
shows the leaf-scars and leaf-trace-bundle scars much more 
distinctly than in the latter ; the resemblance of the fossils to 
stems of Zamia is I believe much closer. 
The existence of such cycadean stems as those shown in 
Figs. 1 & 2, seems to have been overlooked by many writers 
on fossil plants. It need not be pointed out how important 
it is to pay special attention to the less common and some- 
1 Nos. 8357 and 1765. 
2 The stem of Cycas siamensis , Miq., and other Cycads shows in a less degree 
surface features similar to those of the fossil forms. 
