﻿Vol. 6 1.] SPOKANGITJM-LJKE OKGANS OF GLOSSOPTEBIS. 325 



Up to the present time we are without any definite information as 

 to the fructification, and consequently we know nothing of the true 

 systematic position of this genus. It is admitted that the sporangia 

 of this plant have never been observed. 1 Several authors, however, 

 have drawn attention to certain features occasional^ exhibited by 

 the larger fronds, which they have interpreted as indications of the 

 position of sori. The evidence on this point will be discussed at a 

 later stage in this paper (p. 332). 



Some months ago, when cataloguing the large collection of fronds 

 of Glossopteris in the Geological Department of the British Museum 

 (Natural History), I discovered some specimens from New South 

 "Wales exhibiting numerous and well-preserved scale-leaves, with 

 which were associated groups of minute bodies almost invisible to 

 the naked eye. On microscopic examination these proved to be 

 sac-like organs which, so far as I am aware, are new to science. 



These bodies will be fully discussed here, and it will be 

 shown that they resemble the sporangia of certain living and 

 extinct plants closely enough to permit us to speak of them as 

 sporangium-like organs. The specimens which exhibit these 

 sac-like structures are unfortunately few in number ; and despite 

 the fact that similar, but less perfect, examples have since been 

 discovered in the collections at Cambridge, the material available in 

 the museums of this country for the study of these new organs is 

 at present too limited to permit of a complete or final elucidation 

 of their nature or structure. While, therefore, some of the con- 

 clusions expressed here are to be regarded as provisional, pending 

 the discovery of further specimens, there is reason to believe that 

 the present evidence is sufficiently strong to show that these bodies, 

 whatever may be their precise nature, may be attributed with 

 confidence to the fossil plant known as Glossopteris Broivniana, 

 Brongn. 



II. Description of the Specimens. 



Before describing in detail the structure and possible nature of 

 these sac-like organs, a brief description may be given of the 

 specimens on which they occur. In no case is the anatomical 

 structure preserved. The sacs are preserved merely as casts or 

 impressions, and, as such, the preservation is often exceedingly 

 perfect. 



Y. 7202, in the Geological Department, British 

 Museum (Natural History). — This specimen is a nearly- 

 square piece of pinkish shale, obtained from Port Stephens (New 

 South Wales), and belongs to the Odinheimer Collection, which was 

 transferred to the Museum about the year 1859. Typical fronds 

 of Glossojpteris Broivniana occur on both sides of the specimen ; 

 in fact, the rock appears to consist largely of impressions of these 

 leaves. Several well-preserved scale-fronds are seen on one surface, 

 and closely associated with them are groups of minute prominences 



1 Seward (97 1 ) p. 319. 

 Q. J. G. S. No. 242. z 



