254 Palaeontologie. — Agricultur. 



which may be most fairly regarded as the type; in the absence of such 

 a species it should belong to the residuary species after others have been 

 cut off. 



As regards Group 3 — unless the evidence is hopelessly vague 

 or contradictory, the name should be retained for the species for which 

 the weight of evidence points to its having been intended. 



H. H. W. Pearson. 



Oliver, F. W., On a vascular sporangium from the 

 Stephanian of Grand Croix. (The New Phytologist. 

 Vol. I. p. 60—67. PI. I. London, March 1902.) 



The author describes a sporangium observed, in trans- 

 verse section, in a preparation of silicified material from the 

 French upper coal-measures. The sporangial wall shows a 

 broad annulus on one side, suggesting a comparison with the 

 sporangium of Botryopteris forensis, described by R e n a u 1 1. The 

 interior is filled with a mass of contracted spores. The interest 

 of the specimen lies in the presence of a lining of tracheal 

 elements within the sporangial wall. They are of reticulated 

 structure and are arranged in five groups, between the wall 

 and the sporogenous mass; during life they may have formed 

 a continuous layer. The author discusses the affinities of the 

 specimen and is inclined to associate it with the Botry- 

 opterideae ; in spite of some differences in dimensions it may 

 possibly be a sporangium of Botryopteris forensis. Biologi- 

 cally, the tracheal mantle may well have been an organ for the 

 conveyance of water to the developing spores; a comparison 

 with the tracheal sheath in the nucellus of such fossil seeds as 

 Stephanospermum is suggested, and in this connection the 

 author calls attention to the possible affinity between the Botry- 

 opterldeae and the Cycadofllices. D. H. Scott (Kew). 



Benson, Margaret, A new Lycopodiaceous seed-like 

 organ. (The New Phytologist. Vol. I. p. 58, 59. Text- 

 fig. 3. London, March 1902. 



A short preliminary account of a new form of sporangium 

 from the Lower coal - measures of Lancashire. The mega- 

 sporangium, like that of Lepidocarpon, is integumental and 

 contains a Single megaspore; the microsporangium has no 

 integument. On various grounds it is probable that these 

 fructifications may belong to the Mladesmia membranacea of 

 Bertrand. D. H. Scott (Kew). 



Ward, British Guiana. (Board of Agriculture. — Report on 

 a visite to Trinidad 1902.) 



Ward en compagnie du professeur J. B. Harrison a explore File 

 de Trinidad pour etudier la culture du Cacao et d'autres produits. En 

 route quelques jours ont ete consacres aux stations botaniques de 



