XXXVIII] CYCADOSPADIX 501 



stalk from which it was no doubt easily detached as in certain 

 recent Cycads (cf. fig. 392, A). In the specimen from Scotland 

 there are no clear indications of veins in the lamina, which may 

 have been woolly as in Cycas. In some of the specimens figured 

 by Saporta 1 and now in the Ecole des Mines, Paris, the stalk is 

 absent, but in pedicellate examples scars occur on the sides of 

 the narrow axis and casts of seeds are found in the same beds. 

 A good example of Cycadospadix Hennocquei is figured by Saporta 

 from a drawing supplied by Schimper showing two seed-scars near 

 the base of the lamina : the same specimen, as figured by Saporta 

 and Marion 2 , bears a seed, but this is presumably a partial restora- 

 tion. The occurrence of Cycadites rectangularis Brauns at Hettange 

 in association with Cycadospadix strengthens the conclusion, based 

 on the form of the megasporophylls, that some of the Jurassic 

 Cycads bore megasporophylls very similar to those of existing 

 species of Cycas. 



Cycadospadix integer Nathorst. 



This Rhaetic species from the south of Sweden 3 was instituted 

 for an imperfect broadly lanceolate lamina recalling the distal 

 end of the megasporophyll of a Cycas : the discovery of a more 

 complete example 4 justifies Nathorst's use of the name Cycado- 

 spadix, though without further evidence one hesitates to regard 

 the species as a thoroughly trustworthy record of a Cycadean 

 fertile leaf. The species is characterised by the entire margin of 

 the broad and relatively short and thick terminal limb borne on 

 a broad stalk with alternate lateral projections presumably marking 

 the position of the seeds. 



These species of Cycadospadix are particularly interesting as 

 evidence though not amounting to demonstration of the pro- 

 duction by some Jurassic and Rhaetic plants of fertile leaves 

 agreeing closely with those of Cycas. It would seem from the 

 abundance of Bennettitalean flowers and the very scanty remains 

 of fertile leaves or cones like those of modern Cycads that the 

 existing type was exceptional in Mesozoic floras. 



1 Saporta (75) A. PI. 116; (91) PI. 298. 



2 Saporta and Marion (85) p. 111. 



3 Nathorst (86) p. 80, PI. xvn. fig. 7. 



4 Ibid. (02) p. 6, PL i. fig. 11. 



