418 BENNETTITALES [CH. 



the xylem is said by Wieland 1 to be mesarch, but in the absence 

 of more details the foliar bundles cannot be fully described. 

 In some Cycadellas young flowers, less than 1 cm. in diameter, 

 are preserved, those of Cycadella wyomingensis (7 mm. in diameter) 

 being the smallest bisporangiate strobili so far recorded. The 

 French species, Cycadeoidea micromyela Mor., resembles Cycadella 

 in the profuse development of ramental tissue which may cover 

 the surface of the stem. 



Amphibennettites. Fliche. 



This generic name was instituted 2 for two species founded on 

 very imperfectly preserved 'fruits' of Lower Cretaceous (Albian) 

 age from the Argonne which, though in close agreement with 

 Bennettites as represented by B. Gibsonianus and B. Morierei, 

 are referred to a separate genus on the ground that the preservation 

 is not such as to establish their generic identity with those species 

 and because of certain distinctive features. 



Amphibennettites Bleicheri Fliche. The ovulate strobili are 

 sub-elliptical, 3-5 x 3 cm., with several elliptical pits close to the 

 surface originally occupied by seeds borne on short stalks and 

 larger than the seeds of other species of Cycadeoidea (Bennettites). 

 Interseminal scales occur between the seeds. The second species, 

 Amphibennettites Renaulti, is rather larger and more conical : the 

 seeds reach a length of 11 mm. greater than that of any of the 

 American seeds described by Wieland. In neither species is there 

 any indication of an involucre of bracts. The preservation of 

 the specimens leaves much to be desired, but it would seem that 

 the Argonne fossils agree in their main characters with Bennet- 

 titean strobili and it is doubtful whether a distinctive generic 

 name is necessary. The occurrence of seeds over the whole surface, 

 a feature that suggested the name Amphibennettites, may be only 

 apparent and the result of cutting the cone transversely. It is 

 worthy of note that one of Fliche's sections 3 bears a close resem- 

 blance to an Araucarian cone, and in the absence of structure the 

 two types of cone might easily be confused. 



1 Wieland (06) p. 101. 



2 Fliche (96) p. 48, PL v. figs. 2, 3; PL xiv. fig. 1. 

 s Ibid. PL v. fig. 3. 



