124 Palaeontoloofie 



&^ 



schreibt und abbildet; allerdings sieht man auf den Figuren nichts 

 Genaues. Es handelt sich jedenfalls um einen Kreide-Farnstamm. 



Gothan. 



Seward, A. C, VVealden Floras. (Hastings & E. Sussex Nat. 

 Vol. IL NO. 3. p. 126-142. pl. 11. 1914.) 



A review of the chief elements of the Wealden Floras and 

 their distribution in the world. Such floras are widespread and 

 include a relative abundance of cosmopolitan types. The Vegetation 

 as a whole indicates a tropical or sub-tropical climate. 



There is no outstanding contrast between Jurassic and Wealden 

 floras as regards facies, but the latter are sharply marked off from 

 iater floras by the absence of Angiosperms, of which no well-defined 

 remains have yet been found in Wealden beds. 



W. N. Edwards. 



Sinnot, E. W., Some Jurassic Osmiindaceae from New Zea- 

 land. (Ann. Bot. Vol. XXVIII. p. 471-479. pl. XXXVII. July 1914.) 



This paper records an investigation of some specimens of 

 Osmimäites diinlopi, Kidst. and G.-V., with a view to throwing some 

 light on the morphology of the pith in the Osmundaceae. According 

 to some anatomists the pith in this family, and in the Ophioglossaceae 

 has been formed by the conversion into parenchj^ma of the central 

 elements of a primitive protostele, while others consider that it 

 was originally in connection with the cortex, asin other P^e'77n!o/)/zjy/es. 



The former hypothesis is supported by the structure of Zi7/ess^3'rt 

 and Thamnopteris, which are protostelic Osmundaceae, but no 

 undoubted intermediate forms have been found. Osnnindites Rolbei 

 was considered by Kidston and G wy n ne - Vau ghan to be a 

 transitional type with a mixed pith. The vascular Strands in the 

 pith, however, are interpreted by Dr. Sinnott as roots. for he 

 observed roots in the pith of the new material of O. dunlopi, and 

 also in a living Osmmida. 



The derivation of the Osmundaceae from the Zygopterideae is 

 considered to be improbable owing to the difference in the leaf- 

 traces, which in the former are monarch and in the latter diarch. 

 The theory of the reduction of the Osmundaceae from typical 

 solenostelic forms, with Osmimdites skidegatensis and O. carneri as 

 intermediate conditions, is thought to be a more tenable hypothesis, 

 and to clear up manv otherwise incxplicable structural features. 



W. N. Edwards. 



Stopes, M. C, A new Anmcai'ioxvlon. from New Zealand. (Ann. 

 Bot. Vol. XXVIII. p. 341—350. pl. XX. April 1914.) 



The specimen described under the name of Araucavioxylon 

 novae-seelandii, n, sp , from the Cretaccous of New Zealand, is 

 characterised particularly by the development on each side of the 

 medullary rays of rows of thick-walled tracheids filled with resin. 

 In longitudinal sections the 'resin-spools' opposite the centre of the 

 medullary rays are very striking and conspicuous objects. Definite 

 and regulär annual rings, unusual in Araucariae, show that there 

 were probably wcU-marked seasons in this region in Crelaceous 

 times. The specimen is preserved in an unusual manner, the centre 

 being silicified and the outer parts preserved in carbonates. 



