XXIX] LAGENOSTOMA 61 



reference may be made to a statement by Miss Gibbs 1 who speaks 

 of seeds of a Podocarpus picked up from the ground in apparently 

 a mature state and with the associated bracts coloured and swollen 

 as though ready to aid in dispersal but with no embryo: the 

 seeds had matured before fertilisation and fell from the tree after 

 pollination. Whatever may be the true explanation of the 

 absence of embryos this negative character should not be allowed 

 to outweigh the evidence furnished by morphological features 

 as to the applicability of the term seed. As Prof. Oliver says, 

 'there is a long chapter in evolution to be deciphered before we 

 can connect... the seed of Lyginodendron with the sporangium of 

 any fern at present known to us' 2 . 



The cupule of Lagenostoma has been homologised with the 

 outer part of the integument of a recent cycadean seed 3 which, 

 it is suggested, consists of an inner and an outer envelope that 

 have become concrescent, and this hypothesis is supported by 

 another author by a comparison between Lagenostoma and 

 Gnetalean seeds 4 . A comparison has also been made between 

 the collar of a Ginkgo seed and the much more conspicuous cupule 

 of Lagenostoma 5 . Dr Benson and Miss Welsford 6 institute a 

 comparison between the vascular supply of the outer integument 

 of the ovules of Carpinus and Morus and that of the cupule of 

 Lagenostoma, a comparison suggested by Miss Kershaw's remarks 7 

 on the similarity between the vascular system of the ovules of 

 Myrica Gale and Trigonocarpus. In 1908 Dr Benson 8 described 

 some germinating microspores in the pollen-chamber of another 

 species of Lagenostoma, L. ovoides, and recognised what she 

 believed to be antherozoids. I am indebted to this author 

 for allowing me to make a drawing from her section (fig. 408, D). 

 Two microspores are seen with thick outer walls showing irregular 

 holes probably of secondary origin and not part of a regular 

 reticulum as Dr Benson suggests. Close to the upper microspore 

 is a hemispherical body, s, described as a male gamete, and a 



Gibbs (12) p. 46. 2 Oliver (06). 



Slopes (05); Prankerd (12). 



Sykes (10) p. 219; Thoday (Sykes, M. G.) (11) p. 1124. 



Shaw (08). 



Benson and Welsford (09) p. 633. 



Kershaw (09) p. 359. 8 Benson (08). 



