﻿388 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [ VOL. 47 



winged seeds (Odontopterocarpus) belong to Odontoptcris; that 

 certain Trigonocarpous seeds, occasionally showing Rhabdocarpous 

 characters also, belong the Neuropteris and Linopteris; 1 and that 

 some rarely observed minute floral vestiges and smooth capsules, 

 resembling the Arkansas specimens referred by Lesquereux 2 to 

 Sorocladus, represent the polleniferous organs of Neuropteris. 

 Concerning the typical Neuropterids this distinguished savant be- 

 lieves that they " grew from seeds and arc primitive Cycads with 

 fern fronds." : 



Mention has already been made, in the discussion of the Medul- 

 loseas, of the probable Cycadofilic nature of Callipteridium, Lesleya, 

 and the Megalopterids, on the basis of what the waiter regards as 

 their distinct affinities with the Neuropterid group, and on account 

 of the absence of all traces of fructification in these genera. On the 

 basis of similar strong though negative evidence it becomes not im- 

 probable that the supposed fern genera Mariopteris, Pscudopecop- 

 teris (including the round-lobed Diplothmemae), Eremopteris and 

 Triphy Haptens (with Sphenopteridium) , no trace of whose fructifi- 

 cation has yet been found, and whose internal organization is un- 

 known, will eventually be found to belong to the Pteridospermese. 

 It is possible, however, that in the cases of some of these genera the 

 identity of the reproductive organs is masked by dimorphism, which 

 -1 mis to have been as prevalent among the ferns of the Paleozoic 

 as it is among those of to-day. 



On the other hand, it is far from impossible that some of the types 

 which, solely on the evidence of the anatomical characters of their 

 stems, have been referred to the Cycadofilices may eventually be 

 correlated with some of the isosporous fronds already in hand among 

 the ferns. The lessons learned from Calamites, Lepidodendron, and 

 Sphenophyllum, which, notwithstanding the development of prom- 

 inent as well as varied secondary woods, are none the less Equise- 

 tales, Lycopodiales, and heterosporous Sphenophyllales respectively, 

 teach us that the accession of secondary wood, even of a structure 

 rded by many botanists as gymnospermic, should not be accepted 

 le facto proof of an ordinal difference in rank. This important 

 fact should be constantly kept in view, and more particularly when 

 discussing the systematic relations of some of the genera founded 



1 The sporangia approximating the Crossothcca type, described by Zrilh-r 

 (Fl. foss. bassiit Iwuill. d. Commentry, pt. 1, 1888, p. 273) in one of the 

 afore-mentioned genera, Linopteris, probably represent-, as suggested by 

 Grand 'Eury, only the male sporangia of the genu^. 



2 Coal Flora, vol. 1. p. 328, pi. xlviii, f. 8. 

 9 Comptcs Rendus, July 4. p. 23. 



