June 4, 1903] 



NATURE 



II 



preparation of a medicine or magic which will be so 

 efficacious as to overcome the magic of the rain clouds, and 

 cause them to give up their stores of water ; for the August 

 suns in the south-west are rapidly drying up the corn, 

 which, without rain at this period of the year, would be a 

 failure. But when it is remembered that the Hopi live 

 almost entirely upon vegetable products, of which corn 

 forms almost 80 per cent., it will readily be understood that, 

 should the combined efforts of the two .sets of priests be 

 not successful, famine must be the result. As each snake 

 is released with a haho, it bears with it prayers which it 

 is supposed to transmit to the great plumed serpent, who 

 has influence with the rain gods of the four world quarters. 

 It may be added that the fundamental element of nearly 

 all Hopi ceremonies is the production of a magic which 

 will overcome the magic of the rain clouds. 



So far as the writer is aware, no Hopi has ever died as 

 a result of a snake-bite during these ceremonies. Nor has 

 he ever seen a priest bitten by a snake. He is positive 

 that nothing is done to render the snakes harmless. Nor 

 do the Hopi have any antidote for the poison of the rattle- 



tion of not a few shows a marked approach to that charac- 

 teristic of the Cycads, the most primitive of existing seed 

 plants. These plants, therefore, whilst retaining the out- 

 ward form of ferns, are in reality transitional types. For 

 convenience, these plants, which include the genera 

 Heterangium, Lyginodendron, MeduUosa, and many others, 

 ' have been placed in a special group, the Cycadofilices or 

 Fern-Cycads. The recognition of this group is one of the 

 more interesting results that has accrued in recent years in 

 fossil botany, and the view that the Cycadofilices are the 

 j remains of a natural bridge connecting the ferns and the 

 j Gymnosperms has received wide support. 

 , In no case, however, had the fructification of any Fern- 

 i Cycad been definitely recognised, hence it remained an 

 ! open question whether the Cycadean advance which was 

 j so marked a feature of the vegetative organs found its 

 ; counterpart in the reproductive process. 



In the paper under notice the authors bring forward what 

 i they regard as adequate evidence for assigning a seed to 

 j Lyginodendron, perhaps the best known of all Cycadofilices, 

 1 owing to its admirable preservation and very common 



KiG. 3. — Priest using the Snake Whip preparator> to picking up a Snake. 



snake. The Hopi seems thoroughly to understand the rattle- 

 snake, and is cautious never to attempt to piclc him up 

 when in a coiled position. The Snake priest always carries 

 with him his snake whip, which he shakes over the snake 

 when coiled, as he is about to pick it up in the fields during 

 the hunt, or in the hiva as he transfers it from the snake 

 bag to the receptacle, or as he herds the snakes in the kiva, 

 or picks them up on the plaza. Rarely is a snake seen 

 coiled, its ambition being to escape. 



George A. Dorsey. 



WERE THE FERN-CYCADS SEED-BEARING 

 PLANTS? 



"T* HIS was the burden of a preliminary paper read at 

 -^ the Royal Society on May 7 by Prof. F. W. Oliver 

 and Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S., entitled " Lagenostoma 

 Lomaxi, the seed of Lyginodendron." 



During recent years the petrified remains of many fern- 

 like plants from the Carboniferous rocks have received close 

 attention, with the striking result that the internal organisa- 



NO. 1753. VOL. 68] 



occurrence in xhe calcareous nodules of the Lower Coal- 

 measures. 



Numerous detached seeds are known from the Palaeozoic 

 rocks, but in no case has it been ascertained by what plants 

 these seeds were borne, with the exception of certain forms 

 which have been traced to the extinct family of the 

 Cordaiteas, and the curious seed-like fructifications of two 

 Lycopods, Lepidocarpon and Miadesmia. The rest, although 

 of great interest in the details of their organisation, have 

 remained unassigned, being without traces of their origin, 

 like fallen acorns in a forest. 



In the case, however, of the seeds placed by Williamson 

 in his genus Lagenostoma, a re-examination has revealed 

 unexpected points of agreement between the structure of 

 the envelopes of certain of these seeds, on the one hand, and 

 the vegetative organs of Lyginodendron on the other. It 

 appears that the seed named Lagenostoma Lomaxi after 

 its discoverer, and occurring chiefly at Dulesgate, in 

 Lancashire, is sometimes still attached to its pedicel, and 

 is found enclosed in an envelope or cupule springing from 

 the stalk just below the base of the seed, and extending 

 above the micropyle, at least in young specimens. The 

 cupule, in its relation to the seed, which is quite small. 



