Johnson — Spermolithus Devonicus and other Pteridosperms. 251 



purely vegetative in character ? In several eases the branching filaments 

 carry towards their tips small oval bodies which are clearly sporangia 

 (figs. 3 and 4, PI. XIII), arranged not unlike, strange to say, the sporangia of 

 Botrychium. 



It would be rash to say that the filamentous character of one portion of 

 the leaf is a reduction of the lamina caused in all cases by the presence of the 

 reproductive bodies. Still the similarity of differentiation of function in the 

 same leaf observable here and in the Opliioglossaeeae is worthy of note. The 

 restored herbarium specimen of Botrychium simplex (p. 250) shows the frond 

 with its twofold function and the marked dichotomy of the venation. 

 It would be a defensible position to assert, so far as impressions only are 

 considered, that Ginkgophyllum is a Devonian member of the Opliioglossaeeae. 

 While the oval bodies mentioned are clearly organically traceable in their 

 continuity with Ginkgophyllum, I have found nothing suggestive of a seed so 

 connected. Several seed-like bodies borne on veined stalks (e.g. fig. 5, 

 PL XIII) which are not unlike the veined leaf filaments of Ginkgophyllum have 

 been found. Further evidence is needed to enable one to arrive at a definite 

 decision as to the exact nature and affinity of these bodies. So far the 

 material collected shows that Ginhgopliyllum Kiltorkense possessed a rootstock 

 bearing an apical tuft of compound leaves with a non-decurrent sheathing, if 

 not stipulate, base of attachment, a well-marked rachis, carrying Baiera-like 

 leaflets and also Trichopitys-like leaflets, which latter, in some cases at any 

 rate, bore groups of oval sporangia at their tips. Dichotomy is as pronounced 

 a feature in the leaf and veins as in Botrychium. The fertile bodies are 

 either sporangia comparable to those of Botrychium, or are the microsporangia 

 of a heterosporous plant. The evidence suggestive of the possession of 

 seeds by Ginkgophyllum is at present slight. It is, I think, clear that the 

 possibilities of additions to our knowledge of the Devonian flora from the 

 deposits at Kiltorcan are not yet exhausted. 



