with Stauropteris hurntislandica , P. Bertrand , drA 685 
The £ head ’ of the Bensonites is well marked off from the ‘ body ’ and 
ends at the apex in a long beak : Text-figs. 2 and 3 (bk). A very common 
form for the contents to assume is that of an hour-glass, Plate XXXIV, fig. 6, 
Text-figs. 2 and 7, or it may be spherical in shape : Text-fig. 5 (a and b ). 
The dimensions of an average Bensonites are as follows : 
Length , 1*3 mm. ; widths -42 mm. 
Width of pedicel from -o 5 — 12 mm. 
Length of c head ’ -6o mm., the longest observed ‘ hour-glass ’ head. 
Width of ‘ head ’ -24 mm. 
I will now describe the sporangia, which we have recently found 
associated with Stauropteris hurntislandica , P. Bert., Plate XXXIV, figs. 
1 and 2, and then return to the discussion of the Bensonites problem. 
The sporangia of another Stauropteris — S. oldhamia , with their germi- 
nating spores — have been fully described by Dr. Scott. 1 
6. 7. 
Fig. 6. Bensonites fusiformis. Enlarged drawing of the vascular strand, v s., showing two 
spiral elements. x about 400. 
Fig. 7. Bensonites fusiformis ( a ) longitudinal section of ‘ head’ with hour-glass-shaped contents, 
and (b ) oblique section of another ‘ head ’. 
Stauropteris hurntislandica , so common in the Burntisland material, has 
now disclosed its sporangia, and they will be found to be extraordinarily 
like those of its younger relation S', oldhamia. 
They occur in great quantity in the region of the Stauropteris petioles, 
Plate XXXIV, fig. 4. A single sporangium is shown in Plate XXXIV, 
figs. 1 and 2. 
1 D. H. Scott, Germinating spores in a fossil fern sporangium, New Phytologist, vol. iii, 1904. 
Sporangia of Stauropteris oldhamia , ibid., vol. iv, 1905. The occurrence of germinating spores in 
Stauropteris oldhamia, ibid., vol. v, 1906. 
