I)i I >. II. Scott -V/ // of a 



"Note on the Occurrence <>! a Seed-like Fructification in certain 

 I'ahrozoic Lycopods." By D. H. SCOTT, MA., PhD., F.RS., 

 Honorary Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Gardens, 

 Kew. Received August 21, 1000. 



It has generally lu-rn assumed by palaeobotanists that the fossil 

 seeds described by Williamson* under the name of Cardiocarpon, even 

 if not necessarily co-generic with the Cardiocarputi of Brongniart, at 

 least belonged to the same group of Gymnospermous plants. J 

 Brongniart's specimens, often preserved with marvellous perfection, 

 have proved to be the seeds of members of the extinct Order 

 Cordaitew, or of allied plants. The same conclusion applies to 

 certain of the British forms, notably the Cardiocarpon anomalum of 

 Carruthers, which was certainly Cordaitean, and probably to some of 

 Williamson's examples. 



The specimens to be shortly described in the present note show, 

 however, that seed-like bodies, identical with those figured by 

 Williamson under the name of Cardiocarpon anornalum,\\ were borne on 

 Lepidodendroid cones, otherwise indistinguishable from Lepidostrobus. 

 They thus prove that under the genus Cardiocarpon, and even under 

 the " species " C. anomalum, totally different objects have been con- 

 founded, namely, the seeds of Cordaiteae or Cycads on the one hand, 

 and the integumented megasporangia of certain Palaeozoic Lycopods 

 on the other. The latter organs present close analogies with true 

 seeds, but are wholly distinct in detailed structure from the 

 Gymnospermous seeds above mentioned. 



The discovery of the specimens of the new cone is due to Messrs. 

 J. Lomax and G. Wild, who recognised it as a Cardiocarp on-bearing 

 strobilus, resembling a Lepidottmbu&$ 



The original specimens, which are calcified and generally well pre- 

 served, were derived from the Ganister beds of the Lower Coal- 



* " Organisation of the Fossil Plants of the Coal-measures," Part VIII, ' Phil. 

 Trans.,' vol. 167, Part I, 1877, p. 254. 



t Founded in Brongniart's ' Prodrome d'une Histoire des Vegetaux Fossiles,' 

 1828. The forms Cardiocarpon and C<tr<iioc<trputi have been used indiscriminately 

 by authors. 



J See, for example, Solms-Laubach, ' Introduction to Fossil Botany.' English 

 edition, p. 120. 



" Notes on some Fossil Plants," ' Geol. Mag.,' vol. 9. 1872. 



i| Loc. cit., Part VIII, Plate 14, fig. 118, and Plate 16, fig. 119; Part X, 1880, 

 Plate 20, fig. 64. These figures are from specimens which I have certainly identified 

 with the Lepidostroboid fructification. Others figured by Williamson are of 

 doubtful nature. 



*f See the note by Messrs. Wi!d and Lomax, " On a new Cardiocarpon-bc&ring 

 Strobilus," 'Annals of Botany,' March, 1900. 



