﻿Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlix. (1905), No. 12. 13 



Here again, it is only quite recently that definite 

 evidence as to the fructification has come to light, 

 enabling us to fix with something like certainty the 

 systematic position of the family. Mr. R. Kidston, F.R.S., 

 at the close of 1903, brought before the Royal Society 

 his observations on Nenropteris Jieterophylla ; he was able 

 to show from specimens collected in the Dudley Coalfield, 

 that large seeds, almost of the size of a hazel-nut, were 

 borne on the frond, for, attached to the rachis supporting 

 the seed, were the characteristic pinnules of this species 

 of Nenropteris (PL III., Fig. 3.) (Kidston, '04). The seed, 

 which has a fibrous testa, is placed by Mr. Kidston 

 in the genus Rhabdocarpns as defined by Goeppert and 

 Berger ; it must not, however, be confounded with the 

 very different seeds described under the same generic 

 name by Brongniart, which probably belonged to the 

 Cordaitese. 



Thus we see that in this Nenropteris the fertile, seed- 

 bearing frond was so little modified as still to bear 

 recognisable leaflets like those of the sterile foliage — a 

 fortunate circumstance, as it renders the demonstration of 

 continuity direct and conclusive. It is an interesting fact 

 that as long ago as 1887 Mr. Kidston had discovered, 

 another form of fructification in the same species of 

 Nenropteris, which, though quite problematic at the time 

 of its discovery, may not improbably prove to represent 

 the pollen-bearing organs (Kidston '87). Mr. Kidston's 

 discovery of the seed in a species of Nenropteris gives 

 great probability to suggestions previously made as to 

 the fructification of other members of the family. Evi- 

 dence from association had led Mr. Hemingway in 1898 

 to believe that certain species of Nenropteris and 

 Alethopteris bore seeds, Trigonocarpon among others, and 

 Mr. George Wild had shown, in 1900, that the seed 



