Viii PROCEEDIIS'GS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [vol. Ixxiii, 



Three chief points of interest are to be noted in the geological 

 distribution of these plants: (a) that the most numerous highly- 

 specialized trunks reach their maximum in the Jurassic and Lower 

 Cretaceous Periods, when their distribution was practically world- 

 wide ; {b) that the oldest and therefore presumably the most 

 primitive type, Wielandiella, is externally less like the living 

 Cycads than the commoner later forms, while these latter are 

 utterly unlike the living genera in their fructifications ; (c) that 

 the geologically youngest cone is the biggest yet discovered, 

 occurring in the Gault when the extinction of the group appears 

 already to have set in. 



Contrary to what might have been anticipated from their 

 external likeness to the living Cycads, coupled with their great 

 geological age, the fossil ' Cycads ' are much more complex and on 

 a higher level of evolution than the living group. It seems to be 

 extremely unlikely that the fossil and the living forms have any 

 direct phylogenetic connexion nearer than a remote, unknown, 

 common ancestor. The mooted connexion between the fossil 

 ' Cycads ' and the Angiosperms is highly suggestive, but lacks 

 data for its establishment. 



A short discussion followed, and the thanks of the Fellows 

 present were accorded to the Lecturer. 



January 10th, 1917. 



Dr. Ai,FBED Haeker, F.E.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



The List of Donations to the Library was read. 



The following Fellows of the Society, nominated by the Council, 

 were elected Auditors of the Society's Accounts for the pre- 

 ceding year : — Berxaed Smith, M.A., and Samuel Hazzledine 

 Warren. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. ' On the Palaeozoic Platform beneath the London Basin and 

 Adjoining Areas, and on the Disposition of the Mesozoic Strata 

 upon it.' By Herbei-t Arthur Baker, B.Sc, F.G.S. With an 

 Appendix by Arthur Morley Davies, D.Sc, F.G.S. 



2. ' Balston Expedition to Peru : Report on Graptolites collected 

 by Capt. J. A. Douglas, R.E., F.G-.S.' By Charles Lapworth, 

 LL.D.,'M.Sc., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



Lantern-slides were exhibited by Dr. A. M. Davies, A.R.C.Sc, 

 F.G.S. , in illustration of Mr. H. A. Baker's paper. 



