120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



the study of palaeo-botany had made such immense strides since the 

 Microscope had been drawn into its service. Turning to the subject of the 

 paper, he said that much interest attaches to synangia of the Palaeozoic 

 age. Within the last few days Mr. R. Kidston had demonstrated with 

 unerring certainty that the long sought pollen-bearing fructification of 

 Lyginodendron was of this nature, whilst in the case of Cycadeoidea 

 (Bennettites), another and more advanced branch of the Cycadian alliance, 

 I)r. Wieland had shown some time ago that the male fructification was 

 such as we now find in recent Marattiaceae. Under these circumstances 

 it seemed not inappropriate to consider whether any light was thrown 

 on the morphological nature of the seed itself. Reference was made to 

 the older view of C. A. Agardh, and also to that of Prantl, who com- 

 pared the seed with a monangial sorus. An outline was given of Miss 

 M. Benson's suggestion that the seed should be interpreted as a modified 

 synangium or sporangial cluster, in which the peripheral sporangia had 

 become sterilised to form the integument. That proposal at the time it 

 was made did not gain universal acceptance, for one reason because of 

 the difficulty encountered in proving that the synangium to which Miss 

 Benson had given the name Telangium really belonged to Lyginodendron. 

 Now, however, that we know for certain that representatives of two 

 distinct groups of the earlier Cycadian forms possessed synangia as their 

 male organs, the hypothesis undoubtedly gained in force. It was not 

 likely to be lost sight of by fossil botanists. 



Mr. E. A. Newell Arber said he would like to add his testimony to 

 the great interest of this paper. He had hoped that this new synangium 

 would throw some light on the great question of the day — " What were 

 the Carboniferous Ferns ?" He must confess, however, that the affinities 

 of this new fructification seemed to be altogether doubtful. It was im- 

 possible to decide, in the present state of our knowledge, whether it was 

 the male organ of a Pteridosperm, or the fructification of a true Fern. 



He would like to ask Mr. Watson whether he had any information 

 as to the mode of dehiscence of the sporangia, and especially as to the 

 type of frond on which they were borne. He was struck by certain 

 points of resemblance between the new synangium and Ptychocarpus, 

 and although the present fructification differed in certain important 

 features from the synangia known under that name, he would rather 

 expect to find that it was also borne upon a frond of the Pecopteris type. 



If this was the case, it was somewhat remarkable that the fructifica- 

 tion of such a frond should have been discovered from such a low 

 horizon as the Lower Coal Measures, in which comparatively few members 

 of the Pecopterideas are known to occur. He suggested that an examina- 

 tion of further sections by Mr. Watson might afford some evidence as to 

 the type of frond associated with these synangia, and thus perhaps con- 

 firm the distinct suspicion as to its nature suggested by a comparison 

 between this new and interesting synangium and Ptychocarpus. 



The President fancied Mr. Watson would tell them that these 

 specimens had only recently been discovered, and everyone knew how long 

 one must search before finding the connection between a fructification 

 and the plant to which it belonged. He remained still rather sceptical as 

 to Miss Benson's theory of the ovule, which Professor Oliver had brought 



