108 STUDIES IN FOSSIL BOTANY 



Count Solms-Laubach made us acquainted with a 

 fructification, of the Sphenophyllum type, which differs 

 in important respects from those already described. 

 The author named his specimen Bowmanites Rmneri, 

 using the generic name Bowmanites to include all 

 fructifications referable to the family Sphenophylleae. 2 

 This nomenclature is the most suitable in this case, for, 

 in the absence of any vegetative organs, we cannot be 

 certain that the specimen belonged to a member of the 

 genus Sphenophyllum, though most probably this was 

 the case. Bowmanites Rdmeri is at present only known 

 from a single fragment, happily very well preserved, 

 from the Coal-measures of Cracow. The axis is not 

 present, but the arrangement and structure of the bracts 

 and sporangia have been made clear by the researches 

 of the discoverer. The bracts are in whorls, and those 

 of each whorl are united towards the base, though not 

 for so long a distance as in Sphenophyllum Dawsoni ; 

 the bracts are directed steeply upwards, and several 

 successive verticils overlap each other. In this case it 

 seems to be proved that the members of successive 

 whorls were superposed, like the foliage-leaves of Spheno- 

 phyllum. The structure of the bracts is similar to that 

 in S. Dawsoni ; each is traversed by a single vascular 

 bundle. (See Fig. 45, for an outline transverse section 

 of half the strobilus.) 



The point of chief interest is the position of the 

 sporangia, two of which were borne on each sporangio- 

 phore. The pedicel expanded at the top into a scale 



1 "Bowmanites R'ameri, eine neue Sphenophylleen- Fructification," 

 Jahrbuch der k. k. geolog. Reichsansta.lt, Vienna, 1895. 



2 The appropriate but, as the author allows, sesquipedalian name, 

 Sphenophyllostachys has been introduced by Prof. Seward in the same sense. 



