No. 1, August, 1920] PALEOBOTANY 97 



Cocculus, Laurus, Persea, Cinnamomum, Magnolia, Anona, Sterculia, Dombeyopsis, Ptero- 

 spermites, Bombax, Sapindus, Malpighiastrum, Celastrus, Rhamnus, Aralia, Dcwalquea, 

 Cornus, Terminalia, Lomatia, Amelancbier, Prunus, Machaerium, Aristolochia, Chrysophyl- 

 lum, Diospyros, Apocynoi)hyllum, Alstonia, Viburnum and Carpites. — The flora shows a 

 curious mingling of temperate and tropical types and contains very many more of the former 

 than does the known North American floras of corresponding age. — E. W. Berry. 



718. Sahni, B. On certain archaic features in the seed of Taxus baccata, with remarks 

 on the antiquity of the Taxineae. Ann. Botany 34: 117-134. 7 fig. 1920.— See Bot. Absts. 5, 

 Entry 574. 



719. Schlagintweit, O. Weichselia Mantelli im nordostlichen Venezuela. [Weichselia 

 Mantelli in northeast Venezuela.] Centralb. Min. Geol. Palaont. 1919: 315-319. 1919 — 

 Records this ubiquitous Mesozoic fern from Santa Maria, Venezuela, in a shale thought to be 

 Neocomian in age. — E. W. Berry. 



720. Small, James. The origin and development of the Compositae. Miscellaneous 

 topics. New Phytol. 18: 129-176. Fig. 64-78. 1919.— This is chapter 12, in which miscel- 

 laneous topics are presented. A table of known fossil remains of Compositae and their locali- 

 ties is accompanied by critical notes and comments. The composites are believed to have 

 arisen in late Cretaceous or early Eocene. From the point of origin in the northern Andean 

 region of South America, migration occurred chiefly along mountain ranges. By the end of 

 the Eocene the differentiation of types and wide dispersal was accomplished. — A summary of 

 cytology, with original figures based on Senecio, follows. Spermatogenesis, oogenesis, and 

 the history of the embryo sac are discussed, with a special account of the antipodals. The 

 chromosomes are treated from the standpoint of phylogeny. A table is given of the number 

 in all composites so far as known. — The nature and distribution of the latex system in the 

 tribes are discussed. — Last are brief accounts of seedling structure, pericarp, anatomy, phyto- 

 chemistry, and pappus in the Compositae. — The bibliography contains 173 titles. — I. F. 

 Leivis. 



721. Small, James. The origin and development of the Compositae. General conclu- 

 sions. New Phytol. 18: 201-234. Fig. 79. 1919. 



722. Stopes, Marie C. New Bennettitean cones from the British Cretaceous. Phil. 

 Trans. Roy. Soc. London B, 208: 389-440. 5 -pi. 1918. — Bennettites albianus, sp. nov., is 

 described from a cone found in the Gault (or Albian) of Folkestone Warren. The fruit is an 

 ovulate cone, not less than 70 mm. in diameter and probably much more. The innumerable 

 seeds, 600 or more revealed in a single transverse section, are five-ribbed, much elongated, 

 torpedo-shaped, 5-6 mm. long and about 1.2 mm. in greatest diameter. The seed with its 

 many layered integument is inclosed in a cupule-like extension of tubular cells of the stalk. 

 The micropyles are blocked by plugs of nucellar tissue. Around the apex of the seed, inter- 

 seminal scales are completely mutually fused not only with each other but with the seed tissues. 

 The embryos contain two cotyledons and both the radicle and the hypocotyl are relatively 

 massive. The scales are externally covered by a well marked "plastid layer" which runs 

 around the collar of the micropyle. — The complete fusion of the stony scales must have meant 

 that there was great stability and strength in the hard, uniform shell which surrounded the 

 fruit. This solid shell firmly enclosed the ripe seeds, which did not rattle about in it loose, 

 for the ribbed apices of the seeds were wedged into the solid mass. It is not impossible that 

 the hard fruit had considerable drought to withstand. It certainly seems fitted to do so. — 

 The extraordinarily great size of Bennettites albianus raises a point of general interest. In 

 many families of animals giant forms appear shortly before the extinction of the group. This 

 new Bennettites possesses the largest cone of the family and was taken from the highest and 

 latest geological horizon in which the group is known. May it then be considered in the same 

 light as the animal giants — namely a burst of glory before extinction? Any conclusion on 

 this point, no matter how tempting, must not be accepted too readily. A giant fruit in many 



BOTANICAL ABSTRACTS, VOL. V, NO. 1 



