PAST HISTORIES OF PLANT FAMILIES 107 



bryo embedded in a large mass of endosperm, and that 

 it practically coincides with the Dicotyledonous type. 



The seed with its embryo suggested comparison with 

 the Angiosperms long before the complete structure of 

 the fructification was known. 



The fern-like nature of the pollen-bearing structures 

 is another very important point. Were any one of these 

 leaflike " stamens " found isolated its fern-like nature 

 would not have been questioned a year or two ago, 

 and their presence in the " flower " of Bennettites is a 

 strong argument in favour of the Fern-Pteridosperm 

 affinities of the group. 



Had the parts of this remarkable fructification devel- 

 oped on separate trees, or on separate branches or dis- 

 tinct cones of the same one, they would have been much 

 less suggestive than they are at present, and the fructi- 

 fications might well have been included among those of 

 the Gymnosperms, differing little more (apart from the 

 embryo) from the other Gymnosperm genera than they 

 do from each other. In fact, the extremely fern-like 

 nature of the male organs is almost more suggestive of 

 a Pteridosperm affinity, for even the simplest Cycads 

 have well-marked scaly cones as their male organs. 

 The female cone, again, considered as an isolated struc- 

 ture, can be interpreted as being not vitally different 

 from Cordaites, where the seeds are borne on special 

 short stalks amidst scales. 



The embryo would, in any case, point to a position 

 among advanced types; but it is so common for one 

 organ of a plant to evolve along lines of its own in- 

 dependently, or in advance of the other organs, that 

 the embryo structure alone could not have been held 

 to counterbalance the Cycadean stems and leaves, the 

 Pteridosperm -like male organs, and the Gymnospermic 

 seeds. 



But all these parts occur on the same axis, arranged 

 in the manner typical of Angiosperms. The seed-bearing 

 structures at the apex, the "stamens" below them, and 



