UNTIL RECENTLY, most of our knowledge of the anatomy of the calamitean cone genus Palaeostacliya Weiss (1876) was derived from studies of P. vera Seward (1898). Originally described by William• son (1871, 1888) as Calamites pedunculatus, this species was later described in more detail by Hickling (1907). The last-named author observed the peculiar course of the sporangiophore traces which ascended almost to the middle of the internode, then bent abruptly backward and entered the axillary sporangiophore. Several subsequent authors ie.g., Janssen, 1939, fig. 73a; Arnold, 1947, pp. 149-1050) have dealt with this particular feature as a generic character. b his original account of Palaeostachya, however, Weiss (1876) made no reference to the course of the trace, and merely stated that Palaeostachya differed from Calamostachys and other types of calamitean cones by having sporangiophores in an axillary position.