CHAPTER XI 



PTERIDOSPERMEAE — continued 



Medulloseae ; Aneimiteae ; Seed-bearing Pecopterideae ; 

 Other Cycadofilices 



MEDULLOSEAE 



Habit. — As long ago as 1883 the Austrian palaeo- 

 botanist Stur, as already mentioned, proposed to exclude 

 certain of the principal genera of fossil Fern-like fronds 

 from the Ferns, on the ground that, in spite of all the 

 research devoted to them, they had never been found 

 to bear Filicinean fructifications. The genera which 

 he specially cited were Neuropteris, Alethopteris , Odonto- 

 pteris, and Dictyopteris ; these genera, along with others, 

 are now often grouped in the family Neuropterideae, 

 based on external characters, corresponding in part, if 

 not altogether, to the Medulloseae as defined by 

 structure. Recent investigation has fully justified 

 Stur's conclusion (though not accepted at the time), 

 and, as we shall see, there is now every reason to 

 believe that the Neuropterideae generally were seed- 

 bearing plants (Pteridosperms) and not Ferns. Among 

 the genera in question Neuropteris and Alethopteris 



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