Methods of Palaeobotanical Reconstruction 
BY 
E. J. SALISBURY, B.Sc., F.L.S. 
Lecturer in Botany , East London College , University of London. 
With one Figure in the Text. 
T HE rapid advances which our knowledge of Palaeobotany has made 
during the past few years have naturally resulted in a more detailed 
study and an increased accuracy of method in the reconstruction of fossil 
plants from petrified material. 
Certainly one of the most important preliminaries to the investigation 
of any petrified structure consists in an accurate determination of the 
directions in which the sections have been cut. 
Every one who works in this field is familiar with the fact that sections 
which approximate closely to the longitudinal or transverse planes are of 
very rare occurrence, so that not only are the vast majority of these oblique 
with regard to the main axis, but doubly oblique sections, not symmetrical 
about any plane, are also extremely common. 
In the case of complex structures it is wellnigh impossible, and in 
some cases completely so, to think out unaided the distortions consequent 
upon such obliquities, and the difficulties of the problem are still further 
enhanced where serial sections are not available. 
It Is the object of the present paper to bring together the various 
methods which have been previously adopted for the reconstruction of 
petrified material, together with others which the writer has himself found 
useful in such investigations. These can be all regarded as belonging 
broadly to one of two classes according as they are applicable to the study 
of serial or non-serial sections. 
I. Methods of Reconstruction for Serial Sections. 
(a) The wax sheet method. 
In this method, which is that commonly employed by zoologists, the 
sections of the series are represented by sheets of wax, out of which are cut 
the structure as seen in each on an enlarged scale. For this purpose each 
section has to be drawn to the magnification of the required model, which 
can be done either by means of a camera lucida or by projection. If the 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXVII. No. CVI. April, 1913.J 
