1894.] of fossil plants, with a list of type specimens. 199 



still clearer view of the annulus, and what appears to be an indica- 

 tion of longitudinal splitting. 



In some cases, e.g. fig. 1, there are faint indications of the 

 walls of the sporangial cells below the annulus. 



Fig. 3 shows very clearly a gaping longitudinal slit which 

 stands out conspicuously owing to the filling up of the sporangial 

 cavity by light-coloured sandy material. On the whole the 

 sporangia agree very closely with those of Anemia; they are 

 slightly broader in proportion to their length than in the recent 

 genus, but not so nearly spherical as in Mohria^ ; and in the 

 latter the annulus cells are less clearly differentiated from the 

 thinner walled cells of the sporangium wall^ 



The characters of the fossil sporangia correspond to those 

 described by Raciborski in the Cracow specimens. 



At present I will content myself with this confirmation of 

 Bunbury's surmise as to the systematic position of Phillips' 

 Pecopteris exilis ; on another occasion I hope to discuss the 

 difficult question of the relation between such forms as Klukia 

 exilis (PhilL), Pecopteris obtusifolia L. and H., Sphenopteris 

 serrata L. and H., P. exiliforme as figured by Geyler from Japan, 

 P. exilis as represented by Yokoyama from the same country, 

 and the Wealden species Cladophebis Dunkeri (Schimp.). 



I desire to express my thanks to Miss Dorothea F. M. Pertz 

 for contributing the sketches which were utilised by Mr Wilson 

 in his preparation of the woodblock. 



(4) Note on the Liver Ferment By Miss M. C. Tebb, 



By extraction with glycerin Claude Bernard ^ obtained from 

 liver a ferment which converted glycogen to sugar, but the 

 properties of this sugar were not described. Miss Eves ■* ex- 

 tracted from liver a ferment which was active on starch and 

 glycogen, but she states that the product of action was certainly 

 not dextrose, but a sugar of less reducing power, and she considers 

 it very probable that she was dealing with the ordinary amylolytic 

 ferment, converting starch and glycogen to maltose, and obtainable 

 from most tissues of the body. 



In the present research pig's liver was rapidly dried at 

 35° — 40° C. and finely shredded, and the sugar present initially 

 was removed by dialysis. It was found that this dried liver 

 produced dextrose when allowed to act on starch or glycogen, 



1 See Hooker, Gen. Filiram 1842, PL civ. B. 



^ Cf. Trochopteris elegans as regards the arrangement of the sporangia, 

 Hooker, loc. cit. PL civ. A. 



3 Comptes Eendus 1877, T. lxxxv. p. 519. 



4 Journal of Physiology, 1884, VoL v, p. 342. 



