CTCADEOIDEA. 4 5' 



no trace of lateral reproductive shoots of the form characteristic 

 of BennettileB. The retention of Bennettites for stems which bore- 

 reproductive shoots like those of Bennettites Gihsonianus and several 

 more recently described species, serves to express the fact that we 

 possess some knowledge of the taxonomic position of the plants 

 within the class Cycadophyta. 



In an account of a Cyoadean stem from the Corallien of I'Ue de 

 Dives (Vendee), near I'Aiguillon sur Mer, M. Fliche ' speaks of the 

 generic term Cycadeoidsa as being applied to stems which probably 

 belong to the Bennettiteae. This use of the name is, however, not 

 in accordance with the plan now advocated. The designation 

 Cycadeoidea may, I consider, be more advantageously applied to 

 Cycadean stems, such as the specimen figured by Fliche, which 

 exhibit no trace of the lateral fertile shoots characteristic of th& 

 true Bennettiteae. 



Genus CYCADEOIDEA, Buckland. 



[Proc. Geo]. Soc. London, yoI. i. No. 8, pp. 80-81, 1827.] 



If used in the comprehensive sense suggested above, but to the 

 exclusion of stems conforming to the genus Be7inettites, Cycadeoidea 

 would include such genera as Yatesia, Bucklandia, and several 

 others which, so far as we know, differ from one another only in 

 regard to unimportant vegetative features. 



Cycadeoidea (Yatesia) gracilis (Carr.). 



[Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xxvi. p. 689, pi. Iv. fig. 2, 1870.] 



1870. Yatesia gracilis, Carruthers, Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xxvi. p. 689, 



pi. Iv. fig. 2. 

 1874. T. gracilis, Schimper, Trait, pal. veg. vol. iii. p. 565. 

 1893. Y. gracilis, 'Woodward, Lias, p. 378. 



The following is Carruthers' original diagnosis of this species : — 

 " Stem cylindrical, very slender, covered with the permanent 



bases of the petioles, which are imbricated, subrhomboidal, and 



terminated by a lozenge-shaped cicatrix." 



1 Fliche (01), p. 193. 



