iv] THE FLOWER AND METAMORPHOSIS 63 



the foliage as seen in the higher Seed-plants. So far 

 then from the Flower being the result of " Metamor- 

 phosis " of a vegetative shoot, as the theory of Goethe 

 maintained, it appears more probable that both arose 

 from a common source. If any transformation or 

 "metamorphosis" has occurred, it was probably a 

 conversion of leaves which were primitively fertile 

 into a sterile state, by abortion of the sporangia 

 which they bore. And we have seen that this change 

 can be brought about experimentally even at the 

 present day. But that is the direct opposite of what 

 was designated by Goethe as "progressive meta- 

 morphosis." It may perhaps be called with more 

 propriety "Sterilisation," a term which indicates 

 clearly what has probably been a prevalent pheno- 

 menon in the course of descent of Vascular plants. 

 Quite recently a direct support for such opinions 

 has been supplied by the discovery and description 

 of the flowers of the fossil Bennettitales. These, as 

 also the modern Cycads to which they were allied, 

 were linked by many characters to the Ferns : but on 

 the other hand they produced seeds resembling in 

 certain essential points those of the modern Pines, 

 and Larches, etc. These Cretaceous and Jurassic 

 plants showed a decidedly Fern-like character of 

 the staminal leaves, while the centre of the flower 

 was occupied by seed-bearing structures forming col- 

 lectively a sort of pistil (Fig. 13). Such flowers were 



