466 STUDIES IN FOSSIL BOTANY 



known in a carbonised condition, nothing certain can 

 be said as to the structure, though the discoverer 

 believed that he detected indications of the micropyle 

 and pollen-chamber. The isolated seeds were named 

 Wardia fertilis before their connection with the frond 

 was observed. Dr. White has discovered different forms 

 of the Wardia seeds in the most intimate association 

 with four other species of the genus ; in one of these, 

 A. tenuifolius, Goppert, they again occur in actual 

 connection with the frond. The author points out that 

 the proof of the Pteridospermous nature of Aneimites 

 throws suspicion on various similar frond -genera, in 

 one of which, Eremopteris, there appears to be strong 

 evidence from other sources for the occurrence of seeds 

 of a platyspermic type. The seeds of Aneimites 

 resemble some of those grouped under the name 

 Cardiocarpon, and it may be hoped that this clue may 

 eventually lead to the recognition of their structure. 



Seed-bearing Pecopterideae 



Up to the year 1905 the form-genus Pecopteris was 

 regarded as the stronghold of the true Ferns, no suspicion 

 of other alliances attaching to any of its members. In 

 that year, however, M. Grand'Eury made the striking 

 discovery that the species Pecopteris Pluckeneti, from the 

 Upper Coal-measures of St. Etienne, was a seed-bearing 

 plant. 1 In twenty specimens he found the seeds attached 

 by hundreds to the fronds. Sometimes they occur on 

 pinnae of the usual vegetative form, but where they are 

 numerous the lamina is somewhat reduced. The seeds 



1 " Sur les Graines trouvees attaches au Pecopteris Pluckeneti, Schlot.," 

 Comptes Rendus, t. cxl. p. 920, 1905. 



