90 E. II. Sellards — Codonotheca. 



erophyllum are contained in a boxlike excavation in the fleshy 

 tissue of the reduced leaf.^ There is apparently nothing in 

 the structure of the spore itself, as preserved, to determine 

 whether the plant was homosporous or heterosporous. From 

 their large size the spores mi2:ht be taken for megaspores. 

 Bilateral megaspores, however, although seemingly occurring 

 rarely, are exceptional among vascular cryptogams. A care- 

 ful search has been made through all the available material, 

 amounting to about seventy-five specimens (with in most cases 

 their counterparts), many of which have the spores preserved, 

 but no evidence of two kinds of spores has been found. This 

 negative evidence, although hardly conclusive, is entitled to 

 considerable weight. In view of the abundance of material, 

 the chances are very great that if two kinds of spores existed 

 both would be present. The conclusion that the plant was 

 homosporous is, therefore, reasonably certain, unless the second 

 kind of spore proves to have been borne by a differently con- 

 structed organ. 



The generic name Codonotheca is proposed for this type of 

 spore-bearing organ. The type species here described may be 

 known as Codonotheca caduca. 



Botanical Relations. — The botanical relations of this unusual 

 fructification are as yet very uncertain. The spore-bearing 

 organ seems to have been readily deciduous, and thus far has 

 not been found in connection with the vegetative part of the 

 plant. Two of the fossils lie side by side on one of the nodules 

 in such a way as to indicate that both were probably attached 

 by long petioles to a common stem. At one side and at a 

 slightly lower level is seen a slender striated stem ; but the 

 actual connection is not preserved. Three other specimens lie 

 near each other on the same nodule. It has been assumed in 

 the above description that the six parts of tlie organ are spo- 

 rangia-bearing divisions. A second hypothesis may perhaps 

 suggest itself, namely, that the parts are themselves enormous 

 sporangia united at the base somewhat after the manner of 

 such genera as £otryoj)teris.f Zygopteris^ and some of the small 

 species referred to Calymmatotheca. Their great size and 

 especially the presence of well-developed vascular strands run- 

 ning through them is, however, much against, if not fatal to, 

 such a supposition. Even a slight development of vascular tis- 

 sue w^ithin the walls of a sporangium is unusual, although such 

 may occasionally occur, as shown in a recent paper by Prof. 

 F. W. Oliver.f It seems hardly possible, therefore, that the 

 spore-bearing segments can be individual sporangia, because of 

 their large size and especially the prominence of the vascular 



*Eenault, Bassin liouiller et Permien d'Autun et d'Epinac, p. 266, 1890. 

 f On a Vascular Sporangium from the Stephanian of Grand Croix, The 

 New Phytologist, vol. i, p. 60, March, 1902. 



