234 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



in addition, the peculiar type of primary wood, which is 

 characteristic of certain Pteridospermeae. Thus the Cordaiteae 

 combine characters common to the Cycadofilices and Coni- 

 ferae, and, if special importance is attached to the value of 

 anatomical evidence as a clue to affinity, as is held in many 

 quarters, the ancestry of the Coniferse, through the Cordaitales, 

 may be traced back ultimately to the Fern alliance, by 

 means of the connection between the Cordaitales and the 

 Pteridospermeae. 1 



An important fact, derived from a study of fossil plants, 

 is that the Araucariece, to which family belongs the well-known 

 tree, commonly cultivated in this country, the " Monkey-Puzzle " 

 (Araucaria imbricata, Pav.), is a very ancient, if not the most 

 ancient, family of Coniferae. Mr. Seward 2 and Miss Ford, in 

 a critical study of the Araucarieae, recent and extinct, which has 

 just been completed, have pointed out that certain morphological 

 features, especially in connection with the reproductive organs 

 of these plants, agree with others to be found in the Lycopod 

 group. They have advanced arguments " in favour of the view 

 that this group of Gymnosperms, unlike the Cycadales, was 

 probably derived from Lycopodiaceous ancestors," and again, 

 that "the general consent which has deservedly been given to 

 the view that the Cycadales and Filicales are intimately con- 

 nected by descent, may have the effect of inducing an attitude 

 too prone to overestimate the value of the arguments advanced 

 in support of an extension of the idea of a filicinean ancestry to 

 other sections of the Gymnosperms." 3 Thus, the view that the 

 Coniferae may have had a direct connection with the Lycopods 

 in past times, although by no means a new one, has received 

 further acceptance quite recently. By those who hold to it, the 

 Coniferae can scarcely be regarded as other than polyphyletic. 

 Mr. Seward and Miss Ford have indeed drawn "attention to 

 the various characters in which the Araucarieae differ from other 

 members of the Coniferales, and suggest the advisability of 

 giving more definite expression to their somewhat isolated 

 position by substituting the designation Araucariales for 

 Araucarieae." 4 



The fact that some of the Palaeozoic Lycopods, e.g.Lepidocarpon, 

 are now known to have borne seeds, a recent discovery which we 



1 Scott, 1905 1 , 1906. 3 Seward and Ford, 1906, p. 164. 



2 Seward and Ford, 1906. 4 Ibid. p. 164. 



