690 PROFESSOR A. C. SEWARD ON 



Coniperocaulon, Fliche. 



Coniferocaulon colymbeseforme, Fliche. (PL IX, fig. 41.) 



1900. Fliche, Bull. Soc. Sci. Nancy, p. 5, figs. 1-3. 



Under this name Fliche described some casts from the Lower Cretaceous of France 



which he regarded as Araucarian stems. In describing similar specimens from the 



Uitenhage series (Wealden) of South Africa, I adopted the generic name Benstedtia,* 



a title first applied to some English Lower Cretaceous fossils, t The latter are larger 



than Fliche's examples and, as I have elsewhere suggested, they may be cycadean, 



the smaller forms being probably coniferous. The impression shown in photo. 41, 



PL IX., collected by Mr Arber at Gartymore, is characterised by irregular transverse 



wrinklings on the carbonaceous surface, as in the type-specimen of Fliche and the 



South African casts. At the lower end the removal of a piece of the cortical tissue 



has exposed a central axis which is longitudinally striated and may represent a pith. 



The narrowness of the pith favours the comparison with a Conifer stem and leads 



me to use Fliche's generic name rather than Benstedtia. J 



3. Abietineae. 



Pinites (Pityospermum), Endlicher and Nathorst. 

 Pinites {Pityospermum) sp. (PL V. figs. 85, 85A.) 

 The small specimen represented in fig. 85 consists of an imperfectly preserved scale, 

 8 mm. long, bearing at the narrower end a raised oval area which marks the position 

 of a seed. The close resemblance of this incomplete fossil to the winged seeds of Pinus, 

 Abies, Pseudotsuga, and other members of the Abietineae justifies the use of the 

 comprehensive generic term Pinites of Endlicher and the sub-genus Pityospermum 

 proposed by Nathorst. Winged seeds similar to the Culgower specimen have been 

 figured by several authors, by Newton and Teall§ and Nathorst || from Franz Josef 

 Land, by Nathorst H from the Upper Jurassic of Spitzbergen, by Fontaine** from 

 the Potomac beds, by Heer from the Jurassic of Siberia,tt and by other authors. 



C. GYCADOPHYTA. 



1. Bennettitales. 



Willi amsonia, Carruthers. 



Williamsonia pecten (Phillips). (PL VII. photos. 19, 20; PL VIII. fig. 26.) 



1829. Cycadites pecten, Phillips, Geol. Yorks., p. 148, pi. vii. fig. 22. 



1870. Williamsonia pecten, Carruthers, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol. xxvi. p. 694. 



Fragments of fronds of this type are fairly common in the Culgower beds ; they 



* Seward (03), p. 36. t Seward (96). 



X Miss Stopes, who has recently examined the specimens of Benstedtia in the British Museum, informs me that 

 she has found traces of xylem elements showing pits of the coniferous type (November 1910). 



§ Newton and Teall (97), pi. xxxviii. || Nathorst (99), pi. ii. 1 Nathorst (97), pi. v. 



** Ward (05), pi. cix. figs. 4-6. tt Heer (77), pi. xiv. 



