In addition to the two types of cone already mentioned, _Sphenophyllostachys Dawsoni_ and _S. Römeri_, others have been described by Kidston from carbonised impressions. One of these is the fertile branch of _Sphenophyllum majus_[8]. The basal portions of the bracts of each whorl form a narrow collar round the axis of the cone; the free portion of each bract consists of a lamina divided into two equal bifid lobes bearing on its upper surface one group, or possibly two groups, of four sessile sporangia between the narrow coherent bases of the laminae and the sinus between the terminal lobes (fig. 113, C). Another characteristic feature is the greater length of the internodes; this renders the cone less compact and less sharply differentiated from the vegetative shoots than those of other species. A specimen in Dr Kidston’s collection illustrates the peculiar character of the fertile portion of this species; it consists of an axis bearing a succession of lax sporophylls succeeded above and below by whorls of sterile leaves. In this species, therefore, we cannot speak of a compact strobilus at the end of a shoot of limited growth, but of axes in which sterile and fertile leaves are borne alternately[9], a condition recalling the alternation of foliage leaves and sporophylls in _Tmesipteris_ and in _Lycopodium Selago_. [Illustration: FIG. 113. A. _Sphenophyllostachys Römeri._ (Solms-Laubach.) B. _Sphenophyllum trichomatosum_ Stur. C. _Sphenophyllum majus._ Bronn. (A–C. After Kidston.)] Another form of cone, also from the Middle Coal Measures, is referred by Kidston to _Sphenophyllum trichomatosum_ Stur[10] (fig. 113, B): this is characterised by the more horizontal position of the bracts, which “do not appear to be so much or so suddenly bent upwards in their distal portion as in some other species of _Sphenophyllum_,” and by sessile sporangia borne singly on the upper face of each bract. [Illustration: FIG. 114. _Sphenophyllostachys fertilis_ (Scott). (After Scott.) Diagram of a node in longitudinal section, showing one sporophyll and the base of the opposite one. _v.l._ ventral lobe of sporophyll; _v.s._ one of the segments into which it divides; _v.s′._ stump of another segment; _d.l._ dorsal lobe; _d.s._, _d.s′._ segments of dorsal lobe.]