126 Palaeontologie. 



and whicH were the male organs of Pteridosperms. Until this can be 

 decided, at least in some degree, it will be impossible to trace back 

 the life-line of the Eiispovangiatae with any confidence. 



It is pointed out that the male organs of Pteridosperms and the 

 Bennettiteae present a remarkable case of homoeomorphy when 

 compared with the isosporous fructitications of the modern Euspo- 

 rangiatae. The precise significance of this phenomenon is no doubt 

 a matter of opinion, but it is pointed out that it may be simply due 

 to parallelism of development. 



As regards the Hydropterideae ^ there are no real grounds for 

 believing, so far as the present evidence is concerned, that they 

 existed at all in the Palaeozoic period. Even in the truly Mesozoic 

 floras, the only example which can be put forward as a possible 

 representative of this group is the genus Sagenoptevis , and even 

 here the case cannot be said to be proved. Arber (Cambridge). 



Berry, E. W., Living and Fossil Species of Comptonia 



(Amer. Nat., XL, N«. 475, 1906. p. 485-520. pl. 1-4). 



The author maintains a separate generic Status for Comptonia 

 which he holds to have branched from the Myrica'sXo<z\ during the 

 lower Cretaceous. Its original home was probabh?^ in the greatly 

 extended lands of the semi-tropical or warm-temperate Arctic region, 

 though the earliest know specimens are from the Atane beds of 

 Greenland. The Myricas were a prominent dement in the Mesozoic 

 migrations, one of the first of which was southward, along the At- 

 lantic coastal piain, at least as far as Rar i tan, New Jersey. Con- 

 temporaneously with this southward movement in America, there 

 was a similar advance through northern Europe by way of the 

 Scandinavian peninsula. The final reduction of a once widely distri- 

 buted and abundantly represented genus, to the Single species now 

 confined to North America, appears to have resulted from the 

 refrigeration of the Pliocene and Pleistocene climates in temperate 

 latitudes. .Some twenty-one species of Coynptonia are dealt with, 

 and their synonymy is given in füll. A diagram is introduced to 

 Show the probable relationship — not necessarih^ ph3^1ogenetic — ot 

 the leaves of fossil species. Two pages are occupied with a list 

 showing the nomenclatural changes which the name has undergone. 

 Four plates of figures illustrate the various leaf forms. 



D. P. Penhallow. 



Berry, E. W., Pleistocene Plants from Virginia. (Torreya, 

 VI. W. 5, 1906. p. 88-90). 



Gives an account of five species of trees and vines — repre- 

 sented by existing species — from the Pleistocene of Tappahannock 

 (Talbot formation), Virginia. The matrix was hard lignite. The 

 specimens are from the collections of Dr. B, L. Miller, and are 

 deposited in the Museum of Johns Hopkins University. 



D. P. Penhallow. 



Cockerell, Th. D. A., Fossil Plants from Florissant Colo- 

 rado. (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, XXXIII. W. 5, 1906. W. 307-312). 



Describes seven new species of exogens, chiefly trees, and 

 renames five species described by Lesquereux and others. 



D. P. Penhallow. 



