854 REPORT—1890. 
As a whole, the mammals already found in these deposits are very nearly what 
was expected from the Cretaceous, but thus far the older types predominate. 
The Allotheria from this horizon appear to be distinet from the Marsupialia, and 
some of the specimens secured point to the Monotremes as possible allies. One 
genus, at least, of the new forms has a free coracoid, as well as some other charac- 
ters of Monotremes. 
Characteristic teeth of the principal known genera of Cretaceous mammals were 
exhibited by the author, who pointed out the close relationship of many of them 
with Jurassic forms. All the Cretaceous mammals yet discovered are very small 
in size, and all are from essentially the same horizon. They indicate a rich and 
varied mammalian fauna in the Cretaceous period, but as a whole they are 
Mesozoic in type. The ancestors of most of the Tertiary mammals are yet to be 
discovered. 
3. On Androgynous Cones in Pinus Thunbergii, and some remarks on their 
Morphology. By ¥. Ernest WEIss. 
The author described some male cones of Pinus Thunbergii (Massoniana), in 
which the lower portion bore stamens, the upper portion ovuliferous scales sub- 
tended by the usual bract scales. Such cones had been described by Dr. Masters 
for this species of Pinus, but were stated by him to be modified female cones. 
Among the transition stages from the male to the female portion of the cones, Mr. 
Weiss described and figured some which had not previously been observed in the 
numerous cases of androgynous cones examined by Mohl, Kramer, Dickson, 
Oerstedt, and Masters. Above the ordinary staminal leaf he found one stamen 
subtending a second stamen, and transition stages in which the upper stamen was 
replaced by a rudimentary stamen, and finally by an ovuliferous scale. Hence he 
concluded that the ovuliferous scale was a leaf-structure, and not a modified shoot, 
as held by Strassburger, Dickson, and Masters, nor a fusion of two leaves as 
considered by Celakovsky, Velenovsky, and others. 
He also found stages in which the upper stamen persisted, but the subtending 
stamen had become replaced by a bract scale. This afforded additional proof that 
the ovuliferous scale was of the same nature as the single upper stamen, and 
morphologically its equivalent. The writer then criticised Velenovslky’s last con- 
tribution to the question of the morphology of the female cone (Flora, 1888), and 
finally supported Eichler’s view that the bract scale and the ovuliferous scale are 
parts of a single leaf, illustrating this view by the stages described above. 
The stamen arising seemingly in the axil of a subtending stamen he considered 
asa double stamen, formed either by ‘dedoublement’ or by reversion to an ancestral 
peltate stamen with four sporangia, and derivable from a multisporangiate stamen 
of a Cycad. The upper portion of the stamen usually disappeared in the group of 
the Coniferze. In the same way the female cone could be derived from a female 
cone of a Cycad by a division of the carpel into two, the upper portion carrying 
the ovules, the lower portion sterile, but probably with some function such as 
keeping the cone open during the time of pollination, and then becoming in most 
cases unimportant and inconspicuous. The female cones of Pinus would therefore 
be equivalent to those of Araucaria or the Cycads, and be of the nature of flowers, 
like the male cone, and not as Celakovsky would have it, inflorescence. 
The androgynous cone above described would be of the nature of an herma- 
phrodite flower, and not a mixture of flower and inflorescence as it would be 
according to Celakoysky’s interpretation. 
A, On a curious Cell-content in Eucommia ulmoides (Oliv.). 
By F. Ernest WEIss. 
Some bark of this remarkable tree (Tu-chung) from Central China was given the 
author for examination by Professor Oliver. The bark, and leaves also to a slight 
extent, show when broken asunder a number of silly-looking threads, which are’ 
very elastic, but after a certain degree of tension very extensible. These threads, 
insoluble in acids, alkalies, or alcohol, swell up greatly in chloroform, turpentine, 
3 
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