XXXVHl] CARPOLITHUS 499 



Will. MS. 1 , from the same locality is no doubt specifically identical 

 with C. conicus. The seeds are conical, broadly truncate at one 

 end, presumably the base, and tapered to a blunt apex; the 

 broad end is characterised by the presence of three ridges or 

 in some specimens by a single median ridge illustrating an 

 oscillation between the radiospermic and platyspermic form similar 

 to that in Ginkgo biloba. As usually obtained the seeds are 

 probably nucules or casts showing the surface-features of the 

 inner wall of the sclerotesta, the sarcotesta having been destroyed 

 before f ossilisation : the irregular marginal teeth at the truncate 

 end suggest casts of vascular bundles in the integument. The 

 scattered tubercles on the sides of some of the seeds (fig. 584, a) 

 are probably casts of holes in the shell bored by insects and com- 

 parable with those occasionally preserved on the casts of Trigono- 

 carpus. A specimen in the Malton Museum shown in fig. 585 

 which may be an example of this species illustrates the occurrence of 

 an internal cast enclosed by the remains of a thick testa. These 

 Jurassic casts resemble the seeds of Macrozamia Fraseri, but it is 

 impossible to determine their systematic position with confidence. 



Carpolithus sp. (Cycadales?) Seward. 



An unusually well preserved specimen from the Wealden 

 beds of the Sussex coast described under this name in 1895 2 

 consists of a kernel and mould, 1-8 x 1-1 cm. The mould from 

 which the kernel is readily removed is lined with a thin structure 

 representing part of the testa and between this and the surrounding 

 rock is a layer of coal. On the surface of the kernel, probably 

 the cast of the seed- cavity, a reticulum of narrow grooves indicates 

 the course of the vascular bundles over the surface of the nucellus. 



Carpolithus (Cycadales?) Pomelii (Saporta). 



The specimen from the Upper Corallian of Chateauroux 

 (Indre) on which this species was founded by Saporta 3 under 

 the name Cycadeospermum Pomelii is a large ovate cast, 5-5 cm. 

 long and 3-5 cm. broad, closely resembling some of the larger 

 recent Cycadean seeds: it cannot be accepted as a true record 

 of the group without reservation. 



1 Lindley and Button (36) A. PL 189, figs. 3, 5. 



2 Seward (95) A. p. 105, fig. 7. 3 Saporta (75) A. p. 242, PL 117, fig. 9. 



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