Ii6 



NATURE 



[April io, 19 19 



not have been styled cycadean. The differences 

 between the reproductive organs of the recent and 

 €xtinct forms find expression in the reference of the 

 Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous plants to a separate 

 group, Bennettitales, the existing cycadean genera 

 being included in the Cycadales. 



Dr. Marie C. Stopes has recently made two im- 

 portant contributions to our knowledge of the Ben- 

 nettitales in a paper published in vol. ccviii. of the 

 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, con- 

 taining descriptions and many admirable illustrations 

 of a new 'species of seminiferous cone and a cone- 

 bearing stem. The new cone, named Bennettites 

 Mbianus, was discovered in the Gault of Folkestone by 

 Mr. G. C. Walton. A French specimen of Ben- 

 nettites was described some years ago by Prof. Lignier 

 from beds in Normandy, believed by him to belong 

 to the Gault, but with that exception all Bennettitean 

 cones are from Jurassic or Wealden strata. The 

 preservation of the English species is unusually good; 

 the type-specimen is a portion of the broad domical 

 apex of a cone about 120 mm. in diameter, containing 

 several hundred seeds, many of them with embryos. 

 In general plan it agrees with previously described 

 Bennettites cones; each seed is closely invested by 

 seven interseminal scales, with expanded and laterally 

 confluent truncate apices, forming a strong protective 

 covering to the surface of the " fruit." It is sug- 

 gested that the lacunar tissue surrounding the stalks 

 on which the erect exalbuminous seeds are borne, 

 and the tubular cells of the arillus-like basal cup in 

 which each seed is embedded, drew up and retained 

 water like the water-storage tissue of a bog moss, thus 

 keeping the interior of the fruit moist. It is pointed 

 out in support of this ingenious view that the seeds 

 are deficient in vascular-conducting tissue. 



The careful and detailed investigation of the com- 

 plex structure of the seeds does not afford support 

 to the view advanced by some writers that the Ben- 

 nettitean seed agrees closely with that of Gnetum, 

 nor are any new facts brought to Hght which favour an 

 alliance between Bennettites and the Angiosperms. 



It is probable that the plant which bore the cone 

 described by Dr. Stopes was one of the latest repre- 

 sentatives of the Bennettitales; the habit and the [ 

 anatomical characters of the vegetative organs were, 

 in the main, retained by the Cycads as we know them 

 to-day — a small group, for the most part tropical in 

 their distribution, and probably of comparatively 

 recent origin. On the other hand, it has yet to be 

 shown that the complex reproductive shoots of Ben- 

 nettites gave rise to any direct descendants. 



The thorough examination by Dr. Stopes of the 

 Lower Greensand stem named by Carruthers Ben- 

 nettites maximus shows that it agrees anatomically 

 with other species except in the absence of any un- 

 doubted secretory cells in the ground-tissue of the 

 stem and leaf-bases. The abundance of thick-walled, 

 pitted cells, or "transfusion elements," which physio- 

 logically may represent secretory cells, is a charac- 

 teristic feature. The most important point made ty 

 the author is that Bennettites maximus bore bi- 

 sporangiate cones similar to those described by 

 Wieland from America, and differing from the ap- 

 parently unisexual cones previously recorded from 

 Britain. A- C. Seward. 



United Kingdom and England. 



EDUCATION AND SCIENCE IN THE 

 CIVIL SERVICE ESTIMATES. 



np HE Estimates for Civil Services for the year 

 ■*- ending March 31, 1920, amount in Class IV. 

 (Education, Science, and Art) to 41,251,610?. The 

 following are among the Estimates : — 



NO. 2580, VOL. 103] 



Service 



Board of Education 



British Museum 



Scientific investigation, etc. 



Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research 



Universities and Colleges, 

 United Kingdom, and 

 Intermediate Education, 

 Wales 



Universities, etc., special 

 grants 



1919-20 



£ 

 3i,353i"i 

 209,714 



"3.974 

 242,815 



945,700 



500,000 



Compared 



with 1918-ig 



Increase 



£ 

 12,243,406 

 83.572 

 59,733 



94,465 



624,000 

 470,000 



Scotland. 



Public education 



4,677,220 1,635,675 



Ireland. 



Public education 

 Intermediate education 

 Science and art 



2,721,356 



90,000 



190,498 



Universities and colleges ... 85,000 



Details of some of these Estimates 



interest to men of science are as follows 



Scientific Investigations, etc. 

 Royal Society : 



(i) Grant in aid of (a) scientific investiga- 

 tions undertaken with the sanction of a 

 committee appointed for the purpose 

 (4oooi.) and (b) scientific publications 



(loooZ.) 



(ii) Grant in aid of salaries and other ex- 

 penses of the Magnetic Observatory at 



Eskdalemuir 



Meteorological Office 



Royal Geographical Society ... 



Marine Biological Association of the United 



Kingdom 



Royal Society of Edinburgh 



Scottish Meteorological Society 



Royal Irish Academy 



Royal Zoological Society of Ireland ... 



British School at Athens 



British School at Rome 



Royal Scottish Geographical Society 



National Library of Wales 

 National Museum of Wales : 

 Grant in aid of the expenses of the museum 



Special building grant in aid 



Solar Phvsics Observatory 



School of Oriental Studies 



North Sea Fisheries Investigation 



Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau 



Edinburgh Observatory 



Scientific and Industrial Research. 



Salaries, wages, and allowances 

 Travelling and incidental expenses ... 

 Grants for Investigation and Research : 

 (i) Grants for investigations carried out by 

 learned and scientific societies, etc. 



(2) Grants for investigations directly con- 

 trolled by the Department of Scientific 

 and Industrial Research 



(3) Grants to students and other persons 

 engaged in research 



(These grants will be distributed by a 

 Committee of the Privy Council, on the 

 recommendation of an Advisory Council, 

 to promote the development of scientific 



519,752 

 27,105 



Decrease 

 11,3.50 



of particular 



5,000 



1,000 



47,000 



1,250 



1,000 

 600 



TOO 



1,600 

 500 

 500 

 500 

 200 



8,900 



4,000 

 20,000 

 3,000 

 4,000 

 1,250 

 11,000 

 1,974 



£ 



11,870 



1,500 



13,570 



55, 000 

 25,000 



