XXX] OTTOKARIA 139 



cycadean alliance is not convincing. The type of vernation is 

 unlike that of any known Cycad or indeed of any Gymnosperm : 

 the large size of the leaves is another though weaker objection 

 to this comparison, as the pinnae of Bowenia (fig. 391) and especially 

 those of some species of Zamia (fig. 388), are of equal or larger 

 dimensions. If, as seems probable, the xylem-strands are mesarch 

 that is a point of contact with recent Cycads, but the bundle as 

 a whole bears but a remote resemblance to that of a cycadean 

 leaf and is much more like the veins of Ginkgo. The bud shown 

 in fig. 430, A, is probably a young shoot and not merely a large 

 compound leaf. If it were an unexpanded frond of Neuropteris 

 bearing Cydopteris pinnules we should expect to find indications 

 of scattered desmogen-strands such as would occur in the Myelo- 

 xylon type of rachis. The resemblance to most forms of Cordaites 

 is by no means close though a few leaves referred to that genus 

 (e.g. C. circularis, fig. 468, B) are similar to those of Dolerophyllum 1 . 

 The male organs are unlike those of any other plant: they 

 may be described as sporophylls with microsporangia or perhaps 

 synangia embedded in the mesophyll and containing microspores 

 similar to those of some Pteridosperms or true Gymnosperms. 

 Attention has been called to the close resemblance of the spores 

 shown in fig. 432, C, D to those recently discovered by Kidston 

 and referred to the genus Whittleseya (fig. 429), and it is very pro- 

 bable that the striking similarity is an index of affinity. 



Ottokaria. Zeiller. 



Ottokaria bengalensis Zeiller. A specimen of doubtful affinity 

 from the Lower Gondwana (Karharbari beds) of Passerabhia, 

 India, was originally described by Zeiller 2 as Feistmantelia 

 bengalensis, but in a postscript he substituted the name Ottokaria 

 on the ground that Feistmantelia had previously been employed 

 by Lester Ward. Fig. 433 is drawn from the original specimen : 

 it consists of a stalk attached in a slightly excentric position to 

 an almost orbicular lamina, 2-5 cm. in diameter, with subacute 

 marginal teeth and traversed by numerous radially disposed 



1 Schmalhausen (87) PI. v. figs. 7 9 : this specimen, figured as Dolerophyllum 

 Goepperti, is very similar to Cordaites circularis [Grand'Eury (90) A. PL vi. fig. 15]. 



2 Zeiller (02) B. p. 34, PI. iv. figs. 9, 10. 



