196 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



in m-specialised species of Selaginella, such as S. selaginoides, but the 

 foliage leaves show the archaic leaf base comparable with that of Lepido- 

 dendrese. 



Lycopodium complanatum subsp. moniliforme.* — C. A. M. Lind 

 man describes and figures a new subspecies of L. complanatum found in 

 Sodermanland, Sweden, in great quantities in 1895, at a station which 

 the author has failed to rediscover. 



Fossil Osmundaceae.t — iR. Kidston and D. T. Gwynne-Vaughan 

 describe and figure two new species of Osmwidites, 0. Dunlopi, and 

 0. Gibbiana, both obtained from Jurassic rocks near Gore, Otago 

 district, New Zealand. They give a detailed account of the minute 

 structure of the stem, leaf base, and roots ; and compare the structure of 

 0. Dowkeri Carr. and 0. sJcidegatensis Penhallow, adding a chapter on 

 theoretical considerations and the ancestry of the Osmundaceae. 



Anatomy of Palseostachya vera.} — Gr. Hickling has made a careful 

 re-investigation of the anatomy of Paheostachya, and describes the 

 general features of the fossil cone, the structure of its axis, its cortex and 

 medulla, the vascular system, vascular supply of the appendages, 

 sporangiophore bundles, bracts, sporangiophores, sporangia, spores. He 

 thereby brings to light certain new features and corrects some errors of 

 observation made by Williamson. He discusses the affinities of the cone, 

 and holds that Palceostachya vera is a Calamarian fructification 

 •characterised by axillary sporangiophores. 



Structure of Syringodendron.§ — K. H. Coward describes the 

 structure of a portion of a fossil plant from the Lower Coal Measures of 

 Shore sent to the Manchester Museum by Lomax of Bolton. They 

 were tangential sections of bark, and at A. C. Seward's suggestion were 

 compared with Syringodendron, and found to agree. Syriagodendroii is 

 the bark of Sigillaria. The pairs of scars in rows exhibited by the speci- 

 mens are interpreted as having been caused by the parichnos strands which 

 have nndergone subsequent growth. There is evidence that the 

 parichnos strands acted as respiratory organs. 



Parichnos in the Lepidodendracese.jl — F. E. Weiss gives a resume 

 of all that has been published upon the parichnos in these fossil plants, 

 the structure of the organ and the nature of its function. He gives the 

 results of his own study of a series of slides in the Manchester Museum, 

 figures a re-construction of the leaf-cushion Lepidoden droit, and shows 

 bow the aerenchyma of the parichnos of the leaf, communicating with 

 that of the middle cortex of the stem and with that of the roots, 

 constituted a respiratory system for those parts of Lepidodendron and 

 Sigillaria which were imbedded in a water-logged soil. 



* Hedwigia, xlvii. (1908) pp. 131-2 (figs.). 

 f Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, xlv. (1907) pp. 759-80 (6 pis.). 

 t Ann. of Bot., xxi. (1907) pp. 369-86 (2 pis.). 



§ Mem. Proc. Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc, li. part 2 (1907) No. 7, 6 pp., 

 1 pi. and figs. || Tom cit., No. 8, 22 pp., 1 pi. and figs. 



