40 DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE 



At the time when Carruthers (1870) suggested the modern 

 interpretation of the form, he had the fructifications in only 

 Bennettites Gibsonianus to deal with. Nevertheless, as Solms- 

 Laubach wrote in 1891 (p. 422), so far as his material allowed 

 he interpreted the form in " so masterly a manner from his 

 numerous preparations, that at present I have chiefly only to 

 confirm his results, though, as might be expected, a fresh exami- 

 nation may be found to throw further light on some questions 

 of detail." In particular, Solms-Laubach's work increased the 

 detailed knowledge of the embryo and its minute cell-structure, 

 which he described and figured more accurately than had pre- 

 viously been done. He also gave a summary of the whole 

 organisation of the fructification, and made clear the relation 

 of the seeds to the false pericarp in which they appeared to be 

 imbedded, which is formed by the cohesion of the expanded ends 

 of the interseminal scales. 



As the fructification of this Lower Greensand species is the 



type-specimen, not only of a species but of a whole extinct 



family, the history of its discovery and early treatment is of 



interest, and for this we are indebted to Solms-Lnuboch (1891, 



p. 427) : " With regard to the specimen known to be the 



original block of Bennettites Gihsoni cunts, we have the following 



memorandum, which was communicated to Carruthers by a 



member of the family of the discoverer, and which I was 



permitted to copy in the British Museum. It runs thus : 



' This fossil plant was found by Thomas Field Gibson, Esq., in 



the Lower Greenland at Luccomb Chine, Isle of Wight, in the 



year 1856 or 1857. In the spring of 1858 it was taken to 



Mr. Yates' house at Highgate, where it was examined by 



Dr. Hooker and Mr. Morris, Professor of Geology at University 



College. They split it open, and found oval pods containing 



little seeds arranged regularly near the edge. Each pod was 



about an inch and a half long. The best pieces containing the 



most perfect pods were kept by Mr. Gibson and Dr. Hooker, but 



this piece is much larger than the other part which was broken 



up, being about two-thirds of the original lump. I believe a 



similar specimen was found by Dr. Leeson, of Bonchurch/ 



" It appears, therefore, that the original block was broken in 

 two with a hammer, and was thus split into two unequal halves, 

 a.nd beside these into a large number of smaller i'ragmcnts. 



