BRITISH CARBONIFEROUS PLANTS 141 



with long tubular hairs, which give them a characteristic 

 appearance. The seed is regarded as the most primitive which 

 has yet been discovered and is referred provisionally to the 

 Lyginodendreae. 



The structure of seeds belonging to the genus Trigono- 

 carpits has also been elucidated by Scott and Maslen (53) and 

 a note on the same genus and Polylophospermum has been 

 published by Oliver (41). The latter (42) has also discussed 

 the Palaeozoic seed in its many aspects, in his address to the 

 Botanical Section of the British Association at York. 



Miss Benson (14) has recently figured the contents of the 

 pollen chamber of a specimen of Lagenostoma ovoides in which 

 germinating pollen grains showing antherozoids occur. 



The Primofilices 



In 1904 the present writer (5) suggested the use of the new 

 term Primofilices to designate the ancient group of Palaeozoic 

 ferns, on the ground that at that period it is not possible to 

 distinguish clearly the two more modern groups, the Lepto- 

 and Eusporangiateae. One family of the Primofilices, the 

 Botryopterideae, has been considerably elucidated in recent 

 years at the hands of Scott (48, pp. 178-86; 52). 



The same author (48, p. 184; 52, vol. i. p. 292) has described 

 Pteridotheca Williamsoni, where sori of sporangia are borne 

 on "the segments of a much divided leaf, apparently of 

 Sphenopterid form." The sporangia and germinating spores 

 of Stauropteris oldhamia have also been made known by Scott 

 (47, 48, 50). 



One of the most interesting advances in our knowledge of 

 this group will be found in the paper by Miss Stopes (60) on 

 Tubicaulis sutcliffii, the first British member of the genus, and 

 the second example of Tubicaulis so far discovered. " It appears 

 to be one of the simpler Botryopterideae and to have no direct 

 affinity to any living fern." 



Mrs. Scott's (55) new fossil, Bensonites fusiformis, from the 

 Lower Carboniferous of Burntisland, often associated with 

 and occurring on the sporangia of Stauropteris burntislandica, 

 appears to be of the nature of a gland, though possessing a 

 vascular strand. 



Other contributions to our knowledge of the Primofilices 



