34 



Mr 11. Kidstoii on ihe 



Vvwilof Bornia(^4r(ha:o- 

 raktinites) 



Stur also tliuiiglit it very probable that four sporangia 



hung from the inner surface of the shield, and that, in 



consequence of pressure, their presence 



had caused the four slight elevations or 



" lappets" on the upper surface. 



According to this view, he thought 

 it highly probable that the fruit of 

 Boroda included several internodea, and 

 that on the axis, between the leaf- 

 whorls, several whorls of " recepfacula" 

 were borne; these consisted of a stalked, 

 slightly lappeted shield, bearing on its 

 inner surface four or five sporangia. 

 He also believed the sporangia were (in 

 opposition to recent Equisetum) ellip- 

 tical, flattened, and granulated, about 

 1"4 mm. long by 6 mm. broad. One 

 of the sporangia showed a beak-like 

 radiata [trojection at one end, which he thought 

 tw'F/om'''"^^ ) in^^icatcd its point of attachment. He 

 goes on to state that the stem, a 

 small ])ortion of which was exposed in the cone, was not 

 jointed. 



There are several points in this description wliich agree 

 entirely with the Scotch specimens. Stur appears, how- 

 ever, to have been misled in some particulars by the im- 

 perfection of the example on which his opinions were 

 founded. 



We see here again, as in the other figures of this author 

 already cited, the division of the fruit into segments. 



The leaf indicating the nodal region, to which reference 

 has already been made, springs from a point a little lower 

 down the axis than the part where the axis is exposed ; 

 hence the node is not seen. In plants of this class the 

 presence of a leaf indicates the presence of a node. 



In tlie Eskdale plant this is clearly shown ; but one of 

 Stur's figures also shows the same character.* 



But the most important structural point of agreement 

 between the Scotch specimens and the plant he so fully 

 describes is afforded by the " receptacidum," which he says 



" Loc. cit., pi. iii. fig. 5. 



