618 Palaeontologie. 



and petioles of Upper Goal Measure Age. These calcified remains 

 are fragmentary but well preserved, and the majority of them appear 

 to be decorticated stems of Cordaites. Unfortunately the author does 

 not anticipate the discovery of further material in the locality. Füll 

 descriptions of the specimens are in preparation, which are particu- 

 larly interesting from the fact that structural material of this age 

 has not hitherto been available in Britain. M. C. Stopes. 



Oliver, F. W. and E. J. Salisbury. On the Structure and 

 Affin ities of the palaeozoic Seeds of the Conostoma 

 group. (Ann. Bot. XXV. p. 1— oO. 13 textfig. 3 PI. 1911.) 



This paper deals with a group of detached palaeozoic seeds 

 shewing structural relations with Lagenostonia, and other forms that 

 have been provisionally referred to the Lyginodendreae. Conostoma 

 ohlongum, Williamson, and a new species Conostoma anglo-germa- 

 niciini are described in füll structural detail and restorations given. 

 The latter species has been derived from the German 'Goal-balls' 

 as well as from the Lower Goal Measures of England; hence its name, 

 Among the peculiarities of these seeds may be mentioned the rib- 

 bing of the testa, the smallness of the lagenostome (or poUen-cham- 

 ber), the peculiar structure of the nucellar apex below the lageno- 

 stome; and the mucilagenous character of the surface-layer of the 

 testa. The seeds are compared with Gnetopsis elliptica of the French 

 Permocarboniferous with which the authors establish a close rela- 

 tionship. The seeds of supposed Lagenostomate affinity are ranged 

 under three types, viz. the Physostomeae, the Conostomeae, and the 

 Lagenostoineae ; of these diagnoses are given as well as of the seeds 

 described in the paper. Other sections deal with the pollination- 

 mechanisms of these seeds and with the morphology of the testa. 



F. W. Oliver. 



Reid, C. and E. M., On the Pre-Glacial Flora of Britain. 

 (Journ. Linn. Soc. London. Bot. XXXVIII. p. 206—227. 5 pl. 1908.) 



After a brief historical summary of our knowledge of this flora, 

 the authors point out that the fruits and seeds of which it is com- 

 posed afford excellent material for generic and specific determination. 

 A new method of preserving these pyritised fossils is described, b}' 

 impregnating them with wax. 



A füll list of the plant-remains now known from the Pre- 

 Glacial deposits of Norfolk and Suffolk is given, with notes on 

 a large number of the species, all of which are figured. This revi- 

 sion of the flora nearly doubles the number of plants hitherto 

 recorded, for it includes 147 species. Attention is drawn to the 

 internal characters of the seeds and fruits. The plants described 

 lived in the small stream Channels of a large river, apparently the 

 Rhine, or grew in the adjoining wet meadows or in moist woods 

 not far away. Dr3" soll plants are ver^^ few in number. The flora of 

 Norfolk and Suffolk as a whole has altered very little in the 

 many thousand years that have elapsed since these beds were 

 formed, even though it was driven out by the cold of the Glacial 

 Period, to return again at a later period. A certain number of 

 exotic species are however recorded, including Ranancn/us nemorosits, 

 two other species of Ranuncidus, one or perhaps two Water- lilies, 

 Hypecourn procumbens, Trapa natans two species of Vihiirniim'i 



