5(58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [Juiie 13, 



not also referable to another presumed species, that on which the 

 genus was established, the F. Kaltennordhemensis, Zenker (in Leon- 

 hard and Bronn's Jahrbuch, 1833, p. 177- pi. 4. fig. A. 3-7), which, 

 however, represents a rather larger and narrower fossil than the 

 present. 



The original species of Folliculites is the F. thalictroides, Zenker 

 {Carpolithes thalictroides, Brongniart), a fossil first noticed by 

 the elder Brongniart, in 1810, in a paper })ublished in the 'Annales 

 du Museum,' vol. xv. p. 382. pi. 33. fig. 17. It is there referred 

 to the vegetable kingdom, though an alliance with Insects is hinted 

 at ; the species is a large one. In 1822 it was twice described by 

 the younger Brongniart, who named it C. thaUctroides^ in a paper, 

 by Cuvier and himself, on the Geology of the Environs of Paris, 

 pi. 11. fig. 4 & 5, and in his "Classification des Ve'getaux fossiles," 

 Memoires du Museum, vol. viii. p. 317. 



Brongniart was not aware of the dehiscence of the fruit, and 

 considered it to be allied to Thalictrum. Two varieties of it are 

 described ; one, var. Parisiense, from Miocene beds near Paris, — 

 the other, var. Websteri, from the Eocene formation of the Isle of 

 Wight. More lately, in his ' Tableau des Genres de Vegetaux 

 fossiles,' he considers these as distinct species (C. thalictroides and 

 C. Websteri), and follows linger in referring them to Naiadece, who, 

 he says, is perhaps right in this reference, though they differ very 

 much from any existing genus of the Order (p. 87). Zenker's genus 

 FolHcuhtes appears not to be alluded to in the ' Tableau des Genres 

 de Vegetaux fossiles ' of M. Brongniart, though published sixteen 

 years before that excellent work. 



Whatever may be the true afiinities of Folliculites, I think they 

 are very remote from both NaiadeeB and Rammcul o.cece . The internal 

 sac is regarded as an arillus by Zenker, a view which appears to me 

 to be untenable ; and, if not the membrane of a sporular sac, it is most 

 likely the proper coat of an embryo or albumen. 



I have examined about twenty-five specimens of this remarkable 

 fossil, all in a very perfect state as regards the sporangium and en- 

 closed sac, but differing a little in the nature of the cellular layer 

 forming the inner lining of the sporangium. Owing to the very 

 brittle and perfectly opaque carbonized state of the fossil, I was un- 

 able to make sections or slices, and the tissues of the inner surface 

 were obtained piecemeal. 



The substance of the walls of the sporangium is dense, opaque, 

 thick, and brittle, formed of many rows of densely crowded cells ; the 

 outer surface is undulated and minutely dotted ; the thickened apex 

 is rounded and vertically striated. The dehiscing surfaces are smooth 

 and polished, and a groove or canal leads from the upper end of the 

 internal cavity to the apex of the fossil. 



The membrane lining the inner wall of the sporangium is formed 

 of large turgid cells, having a glistening appearance ; they are trans- 

 parent, membranous, brittle, and of a rich brovt^n colour. The indi- 

 vidual cells are oblong, cylindrical, with blunt bases, often produced 

 into a convex sac (8 a), and their upper ends frequently terminate in 



