576 STUDIES IN FOSSIL BOTANY 



The pericarp, from its dense structure, has at first sight 

 the appearance of a distinct organ of the fruit, but, as 

 above stated, there is no doubt that It is in reality 

 built up of the distal parts of the interseminal scales 

 (Fig. 203, A). The furrows thus correspond to the 

 lines of junction of the constituent scales. The 

 outer surface is coated by a distinct epidermis, 

 which extends into, and lines the furrows (see Fig. 

 203, D, c). The inner tissue of the pericarp-zone 

 (J>) is formed of parenchymatous cells, with moderately 

 thick walls, and abundant dark contents, perhaps 

 indicating the presence of some reserve food-substance 

 during life. Tangential sections of* the upper part of 

 the fruit show the micropyles of the seeds, lying at 

 the angles where the limits of the constituent inter- 

 seminal organs meet. In Fig. 203, D (from a radial 

 section), two of the furrows marking these limits (c) 

 are shown close together, having been cut at a short 

 distance from the micropyle towards which they 

 converged. Vascular bundles run out into the pericarp 

 between the seeds, and are the continuation of those 

 seen in the lower portion of the interseminal scales. 



So far as the bracts and gynaecium are concerned, 

 the classic Bennettites Gibsonianus may still serve as 

 a type of the complex Bennettitean fructification. 

 Other similar European examples have been described, 

 among which one from the Oxford Oolite of Normandy, 

 called Bennettites Morierei, was fully investigated by 

 Professor Lignier of Caen. 1 The specimen is a 

 detached fruit, not known in connection with the stem 



1 O. Lignier, Vigitaitx fossiles de Normandie, "Structure et affiniles 

 du Bennettites Morierei" Caen, 1894. 



