

G. R. Wieland — American Fossil Cycads. 427 



the basis of evidence afforded rather by the ovulate inflores- 

 cence, Saporta in his study of the French Bennettitacege given 

 in his Plantes Jurassiques, has introduced for this group 

 together with Yioccites, Goniolina, and several others, the 

 name proangiosperms. And Scott has thus stated his opinion : 

 "If by the name proangiosperms we simply mean to indicate 

 plants with a near approach to angiospermous structure with- 

 out implying any relationship to the class angiosperms as now 

 existing, the Bennettitese may well be called proangiosperms." 

 This latter view is seen to be distinctly strengthened by the 

 additional evidence here adduced. 



The term staminate frond, as above introduced, will, how- 

 ever, certainly be found a necessary and convenient one, it 

 being quite evident that the " male flowers " of G ingko, for 

 instance, have also retained traces of frond structure character- 

 izing forms ancestral to this genus, an intermediate stage of 

 which is seen in Baiera Miinsteriana Heer from the Rhat of 

 Baireuth. These latter also recall the "stamens" of Cordaites. 



Before more particularized deductions can, however, be 

 attempted with any degree of safety whatever, this investigation 

 must be carried much further. For while the plants from 

 which the facts of the present contribution have been deter- 

 mined were not only preserved at such a critically important 

 stage in their fructification, but of their life history as well, 

 the very extent of the comparisons possible makes their com- 

 pleted study a prior necessity. While it is true that their 

 proliferous habit has greatly aided and simplified their investi- 

 gation up to a certain point, a particular fructification as 

 selected for study requires much comparison, as it represents a 

 particular stage of development, as a rule one somewhat previ- 

 ous to that of maturity. Whereas the mature fruit represents, 

 of course, the last stage in a series of changes certainly here 

 requiring a year or more. It is hence necessary to bear in 

 mind that in the case of very young stages of ovulate strobili 

 certain structures may be undeveloped — to say nothing of the 

 exigencies of silicification ! Again in the maturer stages it is 

 necessary to determine whether or not fugacious organs have 

 earlier been present. The facts as announced are, therefore, 

 the writer's present interpretation as based on observations 

 which he hopes very greatly to extend before dealing with the 

 subject finally, the entire arrangement of fructification as here 

 described being, as the reader will have already noted, exactly 

 the one most capable of variation and the most difficult to 

 delimit. Happily at the same time the wealth of additional 

 knowledge furnished by these structures promises to equal all 

 that the most sanguine paleobotanist could have hoped for. 



