47° STUDIES IN FOSSIL BOTANY 



branched rachis, are of an elliptical or roundish shape, 

 and from 5 to 10 mm. in length, and are described as 

 resembling berries, and as the simplest in form of any 

 Pteridospermous seeds. Bodies resembling an enormous 

 Crossotheca, 2 to 3 cm. in length, and bearing marginal 

 sporangia, are regarded as possibly constituting the 

 male organs of the plant. M. Grand'Eury points out 

 that Callipteris differs widely from the Neuropterideae in 

 its organs of reproduction as well as in foliar characters. 1 



The common Coal -measure " Fern," Mariopteris 

 muricata, with forked primary pinnae and a Lygodium- 

 like habit, has quite recently been found by M. 

 Grand'Eury in close association, if not in connection, 

 with small seeds, 2 so it is probable that this Pecopteroid 

 form, in which no Fern-like fructification has ever 

 been observed, will likewise prove to belong to the 

 Pteridosperms. 



We see then that on present evidence there is every 

 reason to believe that a large proportion of the Fern- 

 like Palaeozoic plants with Pecopteroid foliage will find 

 their place, like Pecopteris Pluckeneti, among seed-bearing 

 plants. As we have already seen (Chap. VIII. Vol. I.) 

 there are still good grounds for the opinion that some 

 other Pecopterids were true Ferns ; much further 

 investigation will be necessary before we are able to 

 discriminate with certainty between the two classes of 

 plants represented among fossils of this habit. 



1 Grand'Eury, " Sur les Graines et Inflorescences des Callipteris" 

 Comptes Rendus, t. cxliii. p. 664, 1906. 



2 Grand'Eury, "Sur les organes et le mode de vegetation des 

 Neuropteridees et autres PteVidospermes," Comptes Rendus, t. cxlvi. 

 p. 1243, 1908. 



