96 GENERA OF UNCERTAIN POSITION [CH. 



a radially segmented distal portion bearing some imperfectly 

 preserved ovoid bodies on its lower face which are probably 

 microsporangia. No spores are recorded. Zeiller compares this 

 sporangiophore with the microsporophyll of a Taxiis. On some 

 stems small scale-covered buds occur immediately above the 

 attachment of a leaf; these are probably fertile shoots but we 

 have no definite information with regard to their structure. Some 

 specimens from Commentry^ demonstrate the occurrence of small 

 oval ovules or seeds, 4x3 mm., along the length of ordinary 

 leaves (fig. 672), and seeds are sometimes found associated with the 

 basal portions of foliage leaves though not in organic connexion 

 with them, except in an example described by Renault from 

 Autun as Dicranophyllum gallicum var. Parchemineyi^. Some 

 leaves of D. striatum^ are described as enlarged at the base and 

 slightly concave as if to hold a seed, but if this supposition is 

 correct it involves the admission of two types of seed-bearing 

 organs within the genus. The more probable conclusion is that 

 the seeds were borne along the length of the lamina of the sporo- 

 phylls and on the expanded bases. , 



Some specimens from Lower Cretaceous beds in Virginia 

 described as Baiera foliosa^ resemble Dicranophyllum, but in view 

 of the vast chronological gap between these beds and those in 

 which Dicranophyllum occurs it is unlikely that the similarity 

 has any significance. 



Diaranophyllum gallicum Grand'Eury. 



This species, one of the two described by Grand'Eury in 1877^ 

 is the commonest representative of the genus ; it is characterised 

 by persistent leaves with a base that is unbranched for a distance 

 of 15 — 20 mm. and then bifurcates into two equal or approximately 

 equal segments at an angle of about 30° ; these reach a length of 

 10 — 15 mm. and divide into two acute segments 8 — 10 mm. long. 

 There are three veins in the basal portion of the lamina, one of 

 which branches below the dichotomy, and each of the divergent 

 arms has two veins. The leaf-cushions are 2 — 3 times as long as 



1 Renault and Zeiller (88) A. PI. Lxxi. fig. 5. 



2 Renault (96) A. p. 375. » Renault and ZeiUer (88) A. p. 632. 

 « Fontaine (89) B. p. 213, PI. xciv. fig. 3; Berry (11) PI. lix. 



'^ Grand'Eury (77) A. p. 272, Pis. xiv., xxx. Zeiller (80) A. PI. lxxvi. figs. 1, 2. 



