24 



MORPHOLOGY OF GYMNOSPERMS 



of Cycadofilicales. Scott (87) concludes that "on present evidence 

 there is every reason to believe that a large proportion of the fernlike 

 paleozoic plants v^ith pecopterid foliage will find their place, like 

 P. Pluckenetii, among seed-bearing plants." There is also good 

 evidence that other species represent the foliage of carboniferous 

 tree ferns, though of course different from our Cyatheaceae; the spo- 

 rangia of other species suggest the Marattiaceae; and still different 



Fig. 18. — Neuropteris heterophylla: part of frond; slightly enlarged.- 

 photograph by Kidston (64). 



-From 



characters of other species join with all the preceding to indicate that 

 Pecopteris is a most heterogeneous assemblage of foliage. 



Aneimites (or Adiantites) is a frond genus characteristic of the 

 Lower Coal-measures (Devonian to Middle Coal-measures), whose 

 leaflets resemble those of Adiantum. It has not been found attached 

 to a stem, and there is no knowledge of its vascular anatomy; hence 

 the leaves continued to be regarded as those of ferns until White 

 (49) discovered specimens bearing seeds. 



Even the devonian genus Archaeopteris (or Palaeopteris), once 

 referred by some to Hymenophyllaceae and by others to Marattiaceae, 



