S4 GINKGOALES [CH. 



at maturity into 10—12 spreading lobes each of which resembles 

 in appearance a microsporangium of Antholithus Zeilleri. No^ 

 spores have been isolated and, as Nathorst points out, the agree- 

 ment with the Scanian specimens is to a large extent superficial. 



The Australian specimens, probably of Rhaetic age, described 

 by Shirley! from Ipswich, Queensland, as Stachyopitys annularioides 

 and S. Simmondsi require further investigation; they may be 

 alUed to Stachyopitys Preslii Sch., though neither their morpho- 

 logical nature nor systematic position can be settled without fresh 

 data. Halle^ describes some examples of a similar kind from the 

 Jurassic beds of Graham Land as Stachyopitys , cf. annularioides 

 Shir, and thinks it probable that they are portions of some Gymno- 

 spermous male strobilus, but, as he points out, the absence of any 

 member of the Ginkgoales in these southern beds is noteworthy. 

 Specimens similar to those described by Schenk, Shirley, and Halle 

 are also figured from Rhaetic beds in South America as Sphenolepis 

 rhaetica^ and from the Stormberg (Rhaetic) series of South Africa 

 as Stachyopitys sp.* 



The generic name Ginlcgoanthus has been adopted by Nathorst^ 

 for a fragmentary specimen from the Upper Jurassic of Franz 

 Josef Land which he considers may be a male flower of a Ginlc- 

 goites; but the preservation is too imperfect to admit of satis- 

 factory determination. As regards terminology, in the present 

 state of our knowledge it is preferable to use the non-committal 

 designation Antholithus^ for the EngUsh, Scanian, Swiss, and 

 Franz Josef Land fossils, leaving Schenk's Stachyopitys Preslii as 

 a type apart. As regards the English and Swiss specimens, the 

 probability would seem to be that they are the microstrobih of 

 some members of the Ginkgoales. 



STENORACHIS. 



This generic name' was first used by Saporta^ for Nathorst's 

 Zamiostrobus scanicus from Rhaetic and Liassic rocks in Scania* 



1 Shirley (98) p. 13, PI. xvra. 2 jjalle (13) p. 88, PI. vi. fig. 13. 



3 Geinitz (7fi) B. p. 12, PI. n. * Seward (03) B. p. 66, PI ix. fig. 2. 



= Nathorst (99) p. 13, PI. i. figs. 33, 49. 



« Used by Nathorst in Linnaeus's and not Brongniart's sense; Nathorst (08 

 P- ■^^- ' (TTdiis, narrow; pd^is, the backbone. 



* Saporta (75) A. PI. oxvn. ; (79) A. p. 193. 

 Nathorst (75); (97) p. 20; (02) PI. i. pp. 16, 17. 



