BENNETTITEAE 567 



of leaf-like carpels which forms the female flower in the 

 genus Cycas. 



The following description of the fructification is 

 based, in the first instance, on the species Bennettites 

 Gibsonianus 1 of Carruthers. In this species only the 

 female organs are known, but, as we shall see later, the 

 investigation of the American material has proved that 

 in most cases, and possibly in all, the fructification 

 was hermaphrodite. We have already learnt that 

 each fructification is a lateral appendage, seated by a 

 short stalk on the main stem. The whole fruit is 

 somewhat pear-shaped, and about 5 centim. in extreme 

 length. Although fully ripe in the specimens investi- 

 gated, as shown by the condition of the seeds, the fruit 

 is completely enclosed in imbricated bracts, which 

 spring from the stalk, and close in over the apex (see 

 diagram, Fig. 203, A, and Fig. 202). 



The stalk is expanded into a hemispherical receptacle, 

 on which all the organs of the fruit are inserted. From 

 the convex surface of the receptacle spring a great 

 number of slender pedicels, which pass vertically 

 upwards, or diverge slightly towards the curved surface 

 of the fruit. Each of these pedicels bears at its end a 

 single erect seed, with the micropyle directed outwards 

 (see Fig. 202, and diagram, Fig. 203, A). The seeds 

 are so placed that their micropyles meet the surface of 

 the fruit approximately at a right angle. 



The spaces between the pedicels are packed with 



1 The original specimen of this magnificent fossil was found by Mr. T. 

 F. Gibson in 1856 or 1857 in the Lower Greensand at Luccomb Chine, 

 in the Isle of Wight. Part of the specimen is now at Kew, and part at 

 the British Museum (Natural History Department). A second specimen 

 was afterwards discovered by Dr. Leeson, of Bonchurch, Isle of Wight. 



