356 Notes and Comments. 
Probably each sporangium normally enclosed four spores. 
The fungus, unlike all modern fungi, had a power of attraction 
for iron-compounds, and in all cases its hyphe were covered ~ 
with a varying quantity of ferric hydroxide. Other examples 
from Scotland etc., were also described. 
THE APTIAN FLORA OF BRITAIN. 
Dr. Marie C. Stopes stated the so-called ‘ Lower Greensand ” 
deposits of this country are of Aptian age, and represent the 
upper division of the Eocretaceous according to the recent 
classification by Haug. From these deposits the plants hitherto. . 
known—notably Bennettites Gibsonianus Will. and Cupressin- 
oxylon vectense Barber—have been so few that it has been 
impossible to speak of a Lower Greensand ‘ flora.’ It has been 
generally assumed that both the climate, and the animals and 
plants then living were the same as those of the preceding 
Wealden. As a result of recent work the author has now 
brought together a flora consisting of 45 species, containing 9 
Cycadophyta, 27 Conifers, and 5 Angiosperms. Most of these 
are represented by petrifactions of the cellular anatomy, and 
many are very beautifully preserved. 
EARLY ANGIOSPERMS AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES. 
Some of the forms have structures of botanical interest, 
while others are of value as indicators of the climate of the 
epoch, of which nothing was previously known. It is in- 
teresting to find evidence of a change of climatic conditions 
about this time, so that the cooler weather and well-marked 
seasons of the Lower Greensand afford a great contrast to 
the ‘ tropical climate’ of the Wealden of Southern England. 
Among the plants of botanical interest may be mentioned a new 
genus of Cycadophyta with curious wood structure; a new 
species of Protopiceoxylon ; the leaf anatomy of a true Sequoia ; 
several species of Pityoxylon with well-developed ray-tracheids ; 
and several Dicotyledons. It should be remembered that 
these are all contemporaneous with the type species of 
Bennettites. The Angiosperms are the oldest found in Northern 
Europe, and the oldest of which the anatomy is known. They 
are all woody; two of them, at least, must have had tall 
timber trunks. In some of them the minute details are par- 
ticularly beautifully petrified, and show a very high degree of 
organisation. Like the Conifers, they show seasonal growth. 
They represent a dry—possibly fairly high—land vegetation. 
BOYS AND THE WAR. 
What do our children really think of the war?) Dr. Kimmins 
endeavoured to elucidate this question in a paper read before 
the Association. In an essay competition, in which 1,511 boys 
and 1,570 girls in the senior departments took part, the fact 
emerging most clearly was the bellicose attitude of the girls 
Naturalist, 
