342 J. Starkie Gardner — Mesozoic Angiosperms. 



fourth, but there is one of the fifth order ; this being anomalous, it is 

 probable that the fourth order of the half-system has been lost. 



A system with three cycles complete and the fourth cycle repre- 

 sented by septa of the fourth and fifth orders in one half and by a 

 septum of the fourth order only in the other half-system. 



Endotheca scanty. Costse absent. Height 87 mm. Breadth of 

 section 6 mm. 



The distinctness of the species from Axosmilia Wrigliti, Ed. & H., 

 is evident ; but the incomplete cyclical arrangement of the septa allies 

 the species to A. extinctorium, Mich., sp. The tertiary septa of this 

 last species are said by Ed. & Haime to unite with the secondaries 

 close to the columella ; this does not occur in the new form, which 

 moreover has little knobs resembling paliform lobes at the inner 

 ends of some septa as seen in the section. 



The question arises almost of necessity, Was this coral a solitary 

 or simple form ? The straight shape, the absence of lateral adhesion 

 markings, and the deficiency of any gemmation, indicate the simple 

 nature ; moreover, there are no signs of continuity between the base 

 of the specimen and a parent stem. Nevertheless, it must be re- 

 membered that certain fasciculate corals might present pieces of a 

 shape similar to the new form ; but no one has been found with the 

 special characters of the calicinal section described above. It appears 

 that Milne Edwards and Jules Haime were correct in placing 

 Axosmilia amongst simple corals ; but the present species is more 

 elongate and less expanded superiorly than their type. The new 

 form differs from all others, and from all parts of forms which have 

 been described from the Lower Oolite series. 



The specimen is now in the British Museum. 



III. — Mesozoic Angiospekms. 



By J. S. Gardner, F.G.S. 



(PLATE IX.) 



SINCE the article on Mesozoic Angiosperms was written, 1 a very 

 important Sketch History of " Paleobotany," by Lester F. 

 Ward, has appeared in the Fifth Annual Beport of the U. S. Geol. 

 Survey, a brief outline of which cannot fail to prove of interest in 

 connexion with this subject. The object of the sketch is to collate 

 and reduce the fragmentary and desultory mass of information col- 

 lected by previous writers into a system that will enable geologists 

 to use the testimony of fossil plants, in the same way that they 

 habitually use that of fossil animals. The author laments that 

 botanists and palseobotanists have worked and classified almost 

 wholly independently of each other, the former having consequently 

 missed such important data for classification as the order in time in 

 which each type appeared, while the latter have failed to harmonize 

 their work with the more elaborate and best botanical systems, and 

 hence greatly lessened its practical value. " Every candid palaso- 

 botanist must admit that he can understand fossil plants only as 

 they resemble living ones, and that the botanist, studying the per- 

 1 See Geol. Mag., May, 1886, pp. 193-204. 



