444 Palaeontologie. 



sition relative to the stem-bundles, and the out-going leaf- 

 traces, as seen in tangential sections through the main stem, 

 i. e., in both cases the lateral member is usually placed so 

 that its centre lies vertically above a medullary ray of the 

 internode below and between two leaf-traces. 



The roots arising directly on the stems appear to diifer 

 from stem-branches in the following particulars. The roots 

 arise on a level with the leaf-trace bundles (i. e., at the node) 

 and not above them as in stem-branches; the roots pursue a 

 somev^'hat downwardly directed course in passing through the 

 wood of the main axis; internodal (carinal) canals are not pre- 

 sent in the roots; the narrowing of the pith of the root before 

 it joins with that oi the stem appears to be more gradual 

 than in the stem-branches. The pith of the large roots usually 

 became hollovv, but in nearly all cases a wide band of per- 

 sistent pith remains. 



Among the sections examined were many wich show the 

 infra-nodal organs of Williamson and roots on the same 

 slide, and the author confirms Williamson 's conclusion that 

 there is no connection between these two sets of organs, and 

 States that the functions and homology of the former remain 

 as great a mystery as ever. 



Among the figures illustrating this paper is a photograph 

 of the basal part of a young upright stem of CaLimites, showing 

 7 nodes each with whorls of 4 to 6 adventitious roots. 



Arber (Cambridge). 



Scott, D. H., On the Structure and Affinities of Fossil 

 Plauts from the Palaeozoic Rocks. — V. On a 

 New Type of SphenophyilaceousCone (Sphenophyl- 

 liim fertlle) from the Lower Coal-Measures. (Phil. Trans. 

 R. Soc. Vol. CXCVIII. B. p. 17—39. PI. 3—5. Text-fig. 

 1—3. 1905. Abstract in Proc. Roy. Soc. Vol. LXXIV. 

 p. 314—315. 1904.) 



The class Sphenophy Haies, of which the fossil described 

 is a new representative, shows on the one band clear affinities 

 with the Eqiiisetales, white on the other it approaches the Ly- 

 copods; some botanists have endeavoured to trace a relation 

 to the Ferns. The nearest allies among recent plants are pro- 

 bably the Psllotaceae, which some writers have even proposed 

 to include in the Sphenophy Haies. 



The new strobilus appears to find its natural place in the 

 typegenus Sphenophylliim, as at prcsent constituted, but it pos- 

 sesses peculiar features of considerable importance, which may 

 probably ultimately justify generic Separation. The specimen 

 the structure of which is well preserved is from one of the cal- 

 careous nodules of the Lower Coal-Measures of Lancashire. 

 The dose affinity of the strobilus with Sphenophylliim is 

 shown by the anatomy of the axis, which has the solid triarch 

 wood characteristic of that genus, and by the fact that the 



