BENNETTITES. 147 



that Zamia gigas and the fructification are parts of the same 

 plant, admits the absence of any actual proof. In the same year 

 Mantell 1 figures a specimen of Williamsonia in his Medals of 

 Creation, as the fruit of Zamites lanceolatn, and describes the 

 lanceolate involucral bracts as concealing the seeds of the in- 

 florescence. In a short communication to the Yorkshire Philo- 

 sophical Society, Williamson gives a vertical section of a restored 

 inflorescence, and represents the ovoid body of the fructification 

 as terminating in a cone. 2 Brongniart calls attention in his 

 Tableau* to the similarity between the Scarborough fossils and 

 a specimen described by Buckland 4 from the Inferior Oolite of 

 Charmouth, Dorset, under the name of Podocarya. This com- 

 parison is one which has, I believe, been justified by recent 

 investigations, and it is highly probable that Buckland's specimen 

 is a particularly well-preserved bennettitean inflorescence. It is 

 to be hoped that this valuable specimen may be rediscovered, 5 

 and subjected to a careful examination. 



The name Podocarya was chosen by Buckland for this Oolitic 

 fossil, on the suggestion of Robert Brown. It is described as 

 chiefly resembling the inflorescence of the recent genus Pandanus, 

 and by most subsequent writers it is included in the Pandanaceee. 

 Saporta, 6 in his volume on Types proangiospermiques, reproduces 

 Buckland's figures, and substitutes Williamsonia for Podocarya 

 as the generic name ; Unger 7 had previously named the species 

 after Buckland. 



In a specimen figured by Leckenby in 1864 8 we have leaves 

 of Palaozamia pecten (Lind.) in close association with a small 

 form of Williamsonia, which Nathorst afterwards referred to 

 the new species Williamsonia Leckenbi/i. Carruthers, 9 writing 



1 Mantell (1), p. 161. 



2 Williamson (2), p. 47. 



3 p. 88. 



4 Buckland (2), vol. i. p. 466, pi. Ixxxiv. 



5 It is said to be in the Oxford Geological Museum, but cannot be found. 



6 Pal. Francj. vol. iv. p. 127, pi. ccxxxviii. figs. 1-3, and pi. ccxxxix. fig. 1. 

 1 Unger (A. 2), Gen. spec, plant, foss. p. 327. 



8 Leckenby (A.), Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xx. p. 77, pi. ix. fig. 4a. 

 This specimen is in the "Woodwardian (Geological) Museum, Cambridge. It 

 agrees closely with Williamson's " carpellary disk " of Williamsonia yiyas, 

 Carr., except in its smaller size. 



9 Carruthers (3). This paper was also printed in the Geol. Mag. vol. iv. 1867. 



