[127] Mon. Norddeutschen Weald, tab. i. to vii.
Fruits.—The cones or fruits which occur with the foliage of Zamiæ in the carbonaceous shales and marls of the Oolite of the Yorkshire coast, are very fine, and have been described under the various names of Zamites Mantelli, Z. gigas, and Z. lanceolatus.
An interesting memoir on the structure of these fossils, by James Yates, Esq. (a gentleman distinguished for his knowledge of the recent Cycadaceæ), is published in the Proceedings of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society for 1849, p. 37; and another communication on the same subject by my friend Professor Williamson, of Manchester, in York. Phil. Trans. 1819, p. 45; to these papers I must refer for a detailed account of all that is at present known respecting their organization.
Lign. 48. Fruit of Zamites Mantelli, (Brongniart); nat.
From near Scarborough.
The surface of the cone is concealed by the bracteæ.
Zamites Mantelli.[128] [Lign. 48.]—The leaves associated with the fruit here figured, have lanceolate leaflets that insensibly contract at the base, and are inserted obliquely into the rachis; thus resembling the foliage of the recent Encephalartos. With these leaves, and the ovate cones ([Lign. 48]), are occasionally found a circle of leaves or elongated scales, locally termed "collars," which Professor Williamson has shown to be a zone formed by a scaly bud in which the germ of the plants was inclosed. In the progress of development, the fruit burst through the upper part of the investing sheath, and, as it grew to maturity, rose above the incurved elongated bracteæ, till the latter formed a zone or "collar" around the pedicle of the cone.[129] These fossils have been mistaken for flowers.[130]
[128] Podozamites of Braun.
[129] Proc. Yorkshire Philos. Soc. 1849, p. 45.
[130] Bird's Yorkshire, tab. i. figs. 1 and 7.