2 38 Browne . — The Anatomy of the 
of the cone, seem to have consisted of about twelve sporangiophores 
(Vaucher, PL IX). The middle whorls of Cone A consisted of thirteen, 
those of Cone B of eleven, and those of Cone C of eleven or ten members. 
Unfortunately the lower part of the cone is hidden in Vaucher’s figure by 
the uppermost leaf-sheath. It must be remembered that the cone of this 
species is nearly sessile, and that in nature its lower part remains surrounded 
by the uppermost leaf-sheath ; thus the lowest whorls of the cone, contain- 
ing the largest number of sporangiophores, are not so readily perceived as 
the middle whorls. In the middle region, though the axis and axial stele 
are markedly wider, the sporangiophores are much less numerous. 
In Cones C the series of sections extended to the node below the cone. 
Of E. giganteum serial transverse sections were cut of three cones, 
A,B, and C. The series was continued below Cone A to include the upper- 
most node of the fertile branch. A fourth cone, D, was cut serially into 
longitudinal sections, and the node of a fertile stem, E,was cut in transverse 
serial sections. The following were the dimensions of these cones, all of 
which appeared to be mature. Height, measured from just below the 
insertion of the annulus to the base of the apical prolongation of the cone : 
Cone A 15 mm., Cone B 10*18 mm., Cone C 12-4 mm., and Cone D 14 mm. 
The diameter of the stele at its widest was a little over 1*5 mm. in Cone A, 
1*3 mm. in Cone B, 1-25 mm. in Cone C, and just over 1 mm. in Cone D. 
Cones A and B consisted of eleven whorls, Cone D of ten, while Cone C 
consisted of nine or ten, the young sporangiophores at the apex being so 
crowded and irregularly disposed as to obscure the number of whorls 
present. In Cones A, B, and D, the highest number of sporangiophores in 
a single whorl was eleven ; in Cone C one of the whorls contained twelve 
members. 
II. The Sporangiophores. 
The sporangiophores of E. giganteum are short and broad with massive 
stalks. The traces are the largest I have seen in the genus, and are about 
two-thirds of the size of the leaf-traces of the fertile branch (PI. VIII, Fig. 1). 
Correlated with the shortness of the stalk is the fact that the tracheides in 
it often begin to diverge fan-wise preparatory to branching before the 
strand enters the peltate expansion. Indeed, the first branching not 
uncommonly occurs in the cortex or the trace is prematurely divided and 
originates as a double strand. The shortness of the stalk of the sporangio- 
phore and the large size of the trace probably account for the numerous 
cases in which the trace divides prematurely, and is bifascicular at its 
origin. Among the species studied by me the one that most resembles 
E. giganteum in the size and form of the sporangiophores is E. palustre ; 
but in the former these organs are stouter and their traces larger than in 
the latter species. In E. giganteum the massive sporangiophores are 
