August 26, 190-t.] 



SCIENCE. 



281 



seeds that have been found at St. Etienne 

 and in other parts of France, and the probable 

 connection of a considerable portion of them 

 with these fern-like genera.* 



About the last work done by Adolphe 

 Brongniart was the elaboration of the collec- 

 tions of these silicified seeds, the results of 

 which were published posthumously in a large 

 monograph.f In the light of recent discov- 

 eries this work assumes special importance. 

 From such an examination as I was able to 

 make in 1900, in company with M. Potonie 

 and under the guidance of M. Grand'Eury, of 

 the beds of St. Etienne, from which most of 

 these seeds were obtained, I conclude that it 

 is doubtful whether any will be found there 

 attached to stems or fronds, but some may be 

 so found, and, as we have seen, they are being 

 so found in other places. 



These and other considerations which need 

 not be introduced here have led me to the con- 

 clusion that the plants in question should not 

 be classed either as Pteridophyta or as Sperma- 

 tophyta, but should be regarded as constitu- 

 ting a distinct phylum intermediate between 

 the two, for which I proposed the name 

 Pteridospermaphyta. The three great types 

 to which the Paleozoic seed plants, exclusive 

 of recognized Gymnosperms, ■ either have 

 proved or are likely to prove to be allied are 

 the Ferns, the Calamites and the Lepidophytes. 

 It therefore seems probable that there will need 

 to be recognized three corresponding classes, 

 which should be called, respectively, the 

 Pteridospermse, the Calamospermse and the 

 Lepidospermfe. The first of these names has 

 already been appropriately used, unless, as 

 Potonie's classification of Lyginodendron in 

 the Lepidodendraeeae would imply, that plant 

 has its closest afiinities with the Lepidophytes. 

 In that case it would belong to the class 

 Lepidospermse. Those having afiinities with 

 the Calamarians or Equisetinese, such as the 

 Stephanosperma, believed to have been borne 

 by Calamodendron or Arthropitys, would be- 

 long to the class Calamospermse, while those 



* Comptes Rendus, Vol. CXXXIX., pp. 23-27. 



t ' Recherches sur les Graines Fossiles Silici- 

 figes,' par Adolphe Brongniart, Paris, 1881, fol. 

 with 21 plates, many colored. 



seeds borne by plants having the foliage of 

 ferns, such as Neuropteris heterophylla, 

 would belong to the class Pteridospermse. 



If it be said that the existence of seeds 

 necessarily places a plant in the Sperma- 

 tophyta, the answer is that at the stage in 

 plant development to which those forms be- 

 longed it will not probably prove possible to 

 maintain any such sharp line of demarkation. 

 The distinction between microspores and 

 pollen has already practically broken down, 

 and Kidston now regards the spores of Neur- 

 opteris heterophylla as the male inflorescence. 

 In like manner the distinction between macro- 

 spores and seeds is likely to break down, and 

 the attempt to retain plants of such low or- 

 ganization in the Spermatophyta will present 

 grave difficulties. By establishing an inter- 

 mediate phylum to which all forms may be 

 referred as fast as the appropriate parts are 

 discovered, all these difficulties will be re- 

 moved. We should then have the following 

 classification of vascular plants : 



Phtia. Classes. 



{Filicinese. 

 Equisetinese. 

 Lycopodineae. 

 r Pteridospermse. 



Pteridospermaphyta j Calamospermse. 



( LepidosperniEe. 



„ , , _. f GymnospermsE. 



Spermatophyta | Angiosperma;. 



Lester F. Ward. 



the soufriere of st. vincent in july, 1904. 



To THE Editor of Science : When the report 

 was circulated in the daily papers of this 

 country that Mont Pele was in full eruption 

 again, May 8, 1904, the second anniversary 

 of the destruction of St. Pierre, the author 

 wrote to correspondents in Martinique and 

 St. Vincent for particular information as to 

 the condition of the volcanoes which roused 

 so much attention throughout the world two 

 years ago. The data regarding Mont Pele 

 were published in Science for July 1, 1904.* 



From St. Vincent comes the statement that 

 everything has been quiet at the Soufriere 

 since the great eruptions in the latter part of 



* Hovey, ' Mont Pele from October 20, 1903, to 

 May 20, 1904,' Science, N. S., Vol. XX., pp. 

 23-24. 



