Palaeontologie. 445 



whorled sporophylls are divided into dorsal and ventral lobes, 

 as in all other known fructifications of this class. Biit, whereas, 

 in all the iorms hitherto described , the lower or dorsal lobes 

 are sterile, forming a System of protective bracts, while the 

 ventral lobes alone bear the sporangia; in the nevv cone, dorsal 

 and ventral lobes are alike fertile, and no sterile bracts are 

 differentiated. On this ground the name Sphenophylliim fertile 

 is proposed for the new species, 



Each lobe of the sporophyll divided palmately into several 

 Segments, the sporangiophores, each of vvhich consisted of a 

 slender pedicel, terminating in a large peltate lamina, on which 

 two pendulous sporangia were borne. In the bi-sporangiate 

 character of the sporangiophores, and in other details of struc- 

 ture, Sphenophylliim fertile approaches the Bowmanites Römerl 

 of Connt S Im s-Laubach, while in the form and segmentation 

 01 the sporophylls there is a considerable resemblance to the 

 Lower Carboniferous genus Cheirostrobiis. 



The wall of the sporangium has a rather complex structure, 

 the most interesting feature in which is the well-defined small- 

 celled stomium, marking the iine of longitudinal dehiscence. 



The spores, so far as observed, are all of one kind; they 

 are ellipsoidal in form, with longitudinal crests or ridges; their 

 dimensions are 90 — 96 /< in length by 65 — 70 a in width. 



The most characteristic point in the structure of the new 

 cone — the fertility ofboth dorsal and ventral lobes of the spo- 

 rophyll — is regarded as more probably due to special modifi- 

 cation than to the retention of a primitive condition. 



Arber (Cambridge). 



Scott, D. H., The Early History of Seed-bearing 

 Plauts, as recorded in the Carboniferous Flora; 

 being the Wilde Lecture, 190 5. (Mem. and Proc. 

 Manchester Liter, and Phil. Soc. Vol. XLIX. Pt. HL Mem. 

 12. p. 1—32. PI. L-HL 3 text-figures. 1905.) 



The memoir commences with a reference to those fern-iike 

 fronds of the Carboniferous Flora which have been found to 

 show satisfactory indications of Filicinean fructification. Peco- 

 pteris is the oniy considerable genus which has yielded consis- 

 tently evidence of this nature, and even this Statement now 

 requires limitation. Further, but a fraction of the extensive 

 genus Sphenopteris is known to have borne the fern-type of 

 reproductive organs. 



The Author next proceeds to give a historical sketch of 

 the gradual growth of our present knowledge of the real affi- 

 nities of many of the fern-like plants of the Carboniferous rocks. 

 The researches of Stur, who excluded certain genera (e. g., 

 Alethopteris , Neiiropteris, and Odontopteris) from the Ferns, 

 of Williamson, in the elucidation of the stems, petioles and 

 fronds of Lyginodendron, as well as the recent discovery of the 

 seed of Lyginodendron oldhamiiim, and other recent work on 



