BENNETTITEAE 593 



A very interesting Cycadophyte, from the Rhzetic 

 of Southern Sweden, has been described by Professor 

 Nathorst, under the name Williamsonia angustifolia) 

 The stems are long and slender and repeatedly forked . 

 by " false dichotomy," a flower usually terminating 

 the axis between the two branches. The floral 

 structure, so far as the material allows of its investiga- 

 tion, appears to be that of a Williamsonia, though 

 the flowers are on a small scale compared with those 

 of IV. gigas. The flowers were described by the 

 discoverer as male and female, but now that the 

 bisexual flowers of Bennettiteae are known, it appears 

 most probable that in this species also they were all of 

 one kind, the differences observed being due merely to 

 the stage of development and state of preservation. 

 This is rendered the more likely by the fact that the 

 flowers originally described as male, in some cases 

 distinctly show the central (presumably ovuliferous) 

 receptacle. The leaves, which occurred chiefly in 

 rosettes at the points of branching of the stem, were 

 narrow and pinnate, of the form known as Anomo- 

 camites? and were of small, size, about 7 or 8 cm. in 

 length. The habit of the plant is totally unlike that of 

 Cycadaceae or of the typical Bennettiteae, and has 

 suggested the possibility of a nearer approach to 

 the Angiosperms than is shown by other Mesozoic 

 Cycadophyta. 



1 A. G. Nathorst, " Beitrage z. Kenntnis einiger mesozoischen Cycado- 

 phyten," Kongl. Svenska Velevskaps Akad. Handl. vol. xxxvi. No. 4, 1902, 

 and the earlier papers there cited. 



'* The plant is referred to Anomozamiles minor (Brongn.), the name used 

 by Dr. Wieland. 



