﻿332 ME, E. A. NEWELL AEBER ON THE [May I905, 



to identify them in such impressions. Even in petrified material, 

 spores cannot always be found in certain types of sporangia. In 

 the absence of any recognition of spores, and in view of the some- 

 what provisional nature of some of the other conclusions arrived 

 at, I prefer to speak of the sac-like bodies for the present as 

 sporangium-like organs. On the evidence presented here, 

 I regard their sporangial nature as highly probable, and I am 

 unable to suggest any alternative hypothesis. 



"VI. Hjsxoeical Sketch of the present Evidence as to the 

 Ekectification of Glossopteris. 



The conclusion that the organs described here are probably, though 

 not beyond all doubt, of the nature of sporangia, and therefore the 

 whole or part of the reproductive apparatus of the sporophyte of 

 Glossopteris, calls for some brief remarks on the numerous views 

 which have been already expressed by different authors concerning 

 the subject of the fructification of this plant. As has been already 

 stated, no one has so far recognized any bodies that could be 

 regarded as the sporangia of Glossopteris, although several have 

 figured features which have been considered as indicative of sori. 



The sori of Glossopteris have been described by one or other 

 writer in every possible relationship to the larger fronds, and to 

 them alone. Mr. W. Carruthers l has detected what he believed to 

 be sori on some fronds from Queensland, which he describes as 



' indications of fruit, in the form of linear sori running along the veins, and 

 occupying a position somewhat nearer to the margin of tbe frond than to the 

 midrib.' 



Such sori occur in several recent ferns, Antrophyum reticulatum, 

 Kaul., among others, which possesses a frond not unlike that of 

 Glossopteris. It is, however, very doubtful whether the sori were 

 borne on the secondary nerves in the latter genus. The preservation 

 of some of the fronds from Tasmania and New South Wales is so 

 exceptionally good, that it is almost certain that such sori (if they 

 had existed) would have been detected long ago. 



Eeistmantel 2 described and figured a number of fronds which 

 he regarded as fertile. Among these, one of the linear type, 

 Glossopteris angustifolia, showed a narrow portion of the lamina at 

 the margin, which was not traversed by the lateral veins, and this 

 Eeistmantel regarded as indicative of marginal sori. It is hardly 

 necessary to point out that this alone is not trustworthy evidence 

 in favour of such a conclusion. 



But by far the most numerous examples, figured by various 

 authors as possibly fertile fronds of Glossopteris, are those in which 

 circular or oval spots, patches, or holes occur in the lamina of the 

 frond, often of considerable size, and sometimes arranged more or 

 less parallel to the midrib. 



1 Carruthers (72) p. 354. 



2 Feistmantel (80) p. 106 & pi. xxxixA, figs. 1,1a, 2. 



