146 BENNETTITES. 



Bennettites (Williamsonia). 



FLORES. 



In the Rufford collection of Wealden plants from the neighbour- 

 hood of Hastings, there are several specimens which must be 

 assigned to the same position as the well-known Jurassic William- 

 sonia. For reasons which are stated more fully below, I have 

 referred these Wealden fossils to the genus Bennettites, and am 

 led to regard them as portions of the inflorescence of that plant. 

 Hitherto typical Williamsonias have not been recorded from any 

 Wealden or Lower Cretaceous rocks in England ; the importance 

 of the discovery is considerably increased by the fact that the 

 specimens appear to throw some new light upon the nature and 

 affinity of this anomalous form of inflorescence. Before describing 

 the individual fossils in detail, it may be convenient to give a 

 short summary of our present position with regard to the opinions 

 of palaeobotanists on the nature of Williamsonia. 



In A Geological Survey of the Yorkshire Coast, by Young and 

 Bird, published in 1822, there is a figure of a specimen from 

 the ironstone of Saltwick, which is spoken of as resembling the 

 head of an artichoke (Cynara integrifolia], with the "covering 

 or calyx consisting of numerous lanceolate and striated leaves." 1 

 Another figure in this work represents "a petrified nut of a 

 singular kind " ; these two fossils are examples of what was 

 subsequently named Williamsonia.' 2 ' 



Part of a cycadean frond from the ' ' Oolitic rocks of Scarborough " 

 is figured by Lindley and Hutton, and named by them Zamia grigas 3 ; 

 a few years later Williamson notes the occurrence with this form, 

 of frond of " a remarkable fossil, apparently connected with the 

 fructification of a Cycas." 4 In 1849 Yates 5 draws attention 

 to the identity of Zamia gtgas, L. and H., Zamia Mantelli, Brong., 

 and Cycadites lanceolatus, Phill. He recognizes the difficulty of 

 connecting the leaves and stem with the peculiar form of in- 

 florescence associated with them, and while favouring the view 



1 Young and Bird, pi. ii. fig. 6, p. 183. 



2 Ibid. pi. iii. fig. 7, p. 186. 



3 Fossil Flora, vol. iii. pi. clxv. 



4 Williamson (1), p. 230. 

 6 Yates. 



