PRESENT POSITION OF PALEOZOIC BOTAN Y—SCOTT. 405 
fructification, point clearly to their derivation from ancestors 
belonging to a Filicinean stock. They have been described as 
“Terns which have become Spermophytes,” and the phrase is ap- 
propriate. When, however, we come to inquire into the characters 
of the Filicinean group from which the Pteridosperms arose, we find 
that our data are insufficient. They are themselves, in all probability, 
as ancient as any land plants known to us, and their actual origin 
lies further back than our records at present extend. Considering 
that some of the Pteridosperms show a decidedly simple anatomical 
structure (as in Heterangium), we may assume that they were de- 
rived from plants of a simple type of organization. It would be rash 
in the extreme to identify any of the known “ Primofilices ” with 
the ancestors of the Pteridosperms; they are not nearly old enough 
geologically, and our knowledge is much too narrow to enable us to 
determine how far they may have retained the characters of the 
original common stock. The utmost we can venture to say is, that 
these simpler Paleozoic Ferns, the Botryopteridexw and their allies, 
probably stand nearer the Cryptogamic progenitors of the seed 
plants than any other group of which the record has come down 
to us. 
Where we find among the Pteridosperms characters resembling 
those of more advanced Filicinean types, they are probably to be 
attributed to parallel development rather than to inheritance. The 
“ polystely ” of M/edullosa, for example, if, as there is reason to be- 
eve, it arose within the Pteridospermic family Medullosex, was not 
a directly inherited Filicinean character, but rather a new develop- 
ment on Filicinean lines. 
We may, sum up the position of the question as to the derivation 
of the Pteridosperms in the statement that all the evidence points to 
their having sprung from the same stock with the Ferns. The an- 
tiquity of the Ferns, and especially of the comparatively simple 
types represented by the Botryopteridez and related forms, appears 
sufficiently established to afford an historical basis for this conclusion. 
VII. THE GYMNOSPERMEZ. 
There is little of novelty to record in our know'edge of the Paleozoic 
Gymnosperms, as distinguished from the more primitive class Pter- 
idospermee. With regard to the Cordaiteze, the most important 
group, the position remains very much as Renault left it. Marvelous 
as was the reconstruction of this family at the hands of Grand’Eury 
and Renault, our knowledge urgently needs widening, and new data 
are to be eagerly sought. In the case of the Paleozoic Cyeads and 
Conifers our records are scanty, and the time has not yet come for a 
general treatment of this part of our subject. 
