78 Floristik u. Systematik der Phanerogamen. - Palaeontologie. 



d'aujourd'hui Aerides Hernandi; de meine que Caesia de Fabius Co- 

 lumna, ou Tuzpatli de Hernandez devient Dorstenia Contrayerva. Le nora 

 Columnia de Cesi, attribue ä YAreca Catechu, fut depuis ehange par 

 Plumier, en Columnea genre des Gesneracäes. Holquahuitl de Hernandez, 

 ou Arbor stelluta de Columna, devient Castilloa elastica; et Barberina 

 de Columna n'est que Lobelia cardinalis. 



L'auteur ajoute des observations bibliographiques et critiques pour 

 en deduire et confirmer l'identite des noms acceptes par Ies botaniste* 

 modernes. A. Terracciano. 



OLIVER, F. W., On some Points of apparent Resem- 

 blance in certain fossil and recent Gymnosper- 

 mous Seeds. (New Phytologist. Vol. I. London 1902. 

 pp. 145—154. Text-figs. 4—6.) 



The author points out that, while some Palaeozoic seeds 

 conform to the Cycadean type, with the integument adherent 

 to the nuceilus, in others nuceilus and integument appear to 

 have been free, from the chalaza upwards. The latter may be 

 regarded as the more primitive condition. The genera 

 considered in the present preliminary communication are Lage- 

 nostoma and Pachytcsta among fossil, and Torreya among 

 recent seeds. Lagenostoma Will., from the English Lower Coal- 

 measures, belongs to the type with an adnate integument; 

 the pollen-chamber has the form of a bell-shaped crevice, and 

 the upper portion of the integument has a peculiar, chambered 

 structure, the Chambers representing tracts of soft tissue, through 

 which the vascular bundles ran. The nuceilus is angular, its 

 ridges fitting into the grooves of the endotesta, an approach 

 to the ruminated condition. 



Pachytcsta Brongn. (Permo-carboniferous of France) 

 was an immense seed, of the size of a hen's egg. The nuceilus is 

 separate from the thick testa, and Stands on a chalazal peduncle. 

 The vascular System is very complex, for two concentric zones 

 of bundles traverse the exotesta, while the nuceilus has a 

 supply of its own. 1t appears that the exostesta splits when 

 mature, into three valves. The inner surface of the endotesta is 

 grooved, and into the grooves outgrowths from the nuceilus 

 fitted: in this and other points a comparison with Lagenostoma 

 is suggested. Finally, these fossil seeds are compared with that 

 of Torreya, the only recent Gymnosperm known to possess a 

 ruminated endosperm. This character, involving a complex 

 interlocking of the nuceilus with the endotesta, is a striking 

 point of agreement with the Palaeozoic seeds first mentioned. 

 Torreya differs from these, however, in the presence of an aril, 

 to which the vascular System is confined. Aril, testa and 

 nuceilus are adherent for , nearly the whole length of the seed, 

 a condition due to extensive intercalary growth. 



The author reminds us that the fossil and recent seeds com- 

 pared are not at corresponding stages of development, in 

 Torreya rumination only begins during the growth of the em- 

 bryo, while all Palaeozoic seeds at present known are in an 

 apparently unfertilized condition. D. H. Scott (Kew). 



