BENNETTITEAE 577 



on which it grew. It has hence been supposed that 

 it may have had a longer stalk than that of B. Gibsoni- 

 anus, and so may have been more easily detached. A 

 Cycadean stem (Fittonia Brongniartii of Saporta), to 

 which it may possibly have belonged, was found in the 

 same locality. The fruit is somewhat larger than in 

 our English species, with which, however, it agrees in 

 all essential points of structure. The exceptionally 

 beautiful preservation enabled Professor Lignier to work 

 out the details of structure with remarkable precision. 



It is, however, to the investigation of the magnificent 

 American material that the recent remarkable progress 

 in our knowledge of Mesozoic Cycadophyta is prin- 

 cipally due, and some account of the chief results 

 attained must now be attempted. 



As regards habit, the American, like the con- 

 temporary European Cycadophyta, seem to have been 

 plants of no great stature ; there is no evidence at 

 present for trunks of a height of more than 10 or 12 

 feet, while the great majority of the stems were quite 

 short, like that shown in Fig. 199. In some cases the 

 stems were nearly spherical ; often several are connected 

 together as branches of the same stock. In seeking 

 analogies among recent Cycads we must therefore go 

 to the shorter -stemmed genera, such as Bowenia or 

 Stangeria, or perhaps Macrozamia, rather than to tall 

 plants like Microcycas and various species of Cycas. 



So far as the foliage and the external features of 

 the trunk are concerned, the remarks made at the 

 beginning of the chapter apply to the American as well 

 as to the European forms. The majority of the latter 



