The President's Address. By Dukinfield H. Scott. 147 



made up of Lycopods, Calamites, and Cordaitese. Seeds rarely 

 occur except in association with the Cordaitese or the Neuro- 

 pteridese ; with the former the flattened bilateral seeds are found, 

 with the latter are associated the round or oval seeds, such as 

 Trigonocarpon and PacJujtesta. Where the Neuropteriderc are 

 richly represented, the seeds accompanying them are numerous and 

 varied ; different kinds of seeds occur in association with the 

 different genera, and no other fronds than those of Neuropteridepe 

 occur with the seeds. Various species of Alethopteris, Neuropteris, 

 Odontopteris, and Linoptcris, have their special seeds associated with 

 them. It is interesting to note that the seeds associated with 

 some species of Alethopteris are of the same type as our Trigo- 

 nocarpon, confirming the conclusion of Wild above referred to. 

 As one would naturally expect, it is in cases where the plants occur 

 in situ., or not far off from their place of growth, that we find the 

 seeds associated with them. 



These observations, begun in the Upper Coal-measures of 

 St. Etienne, have since been extended, with similar results, to the 

 Middle Coal-Measures of the Liege district. As the seeds would 

 naturally have been shed when ripe, it is not surprising that 

 M. Grand'Eury has hitherto only found immature seeds, not readily 

 to be identified, in actual connection with the rachis. In any case, 

 this investigator's extensive observations on association materially 

 confirm the more definite evidence from continuity and compara- 

 tive structure already brought forward. M. Grand'Eury points out 

 that there are a great number of seeds still unassigned, even exceed- 

 ing in variety the fronds with which they are associated. A rich 

 field is thus opened up for further investigation. 



Within the last fortnight a communication has reached us 

 from America, showing that the evidence for the existence of 

 " seed-bearing Ferns " is no longer limited to this side of the 

 Atlantic. Mr. David White, the well-known Washington palaeo- 

 botanist, has discovered, in a species of Aneimites (otherwise 

 Adiantites) from the Lower Carboniferous of America, organs 

 attached to the frond, which he interprets as winged seeds.* My 

 friend Mr. Newell Arber has pointed out to me the great resem- 

 blance which exists between the supposed seeds of Aneimites and 

 certain seeds observed by him which he finds associated with the 

 fronds of a similar genus Eremoptcris, from our own Coal-measures. 

 After examining the specimens of the latter with Mr. Arber in the 

 collection of the British Museum, I was led to believe that Mr. 

 White's interpretation of the bodies in his Aneimites as seeds is 

 probably correct ; there can be no doubt, from his figures, that 

 they are borne on the frond. It thus appears that Mr. White has 



* D. White, " The Seeds of Aneimites." Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 

 xlvii. part 3 (Dec. 1904). 



