246 
PROFESSOR W. C. WILLIAMSON ON THE ORGANIZATION 
we have an outer membrane at b, which appears to be a continuation of b At the 
upper part of the seed we have an arrangement which appears to correspond approxi- 
mately with that of fig. 79. Thus the membrane f divides above the apex of the 
perisperm into the two layers f & f". At first I regarded f as the perispermic mem- 
brane ; but the transverse portion f distinctly exhibits a coarsely cellular structure, as 
at f" we have an equally distinct prosenchymatous one, — conditions that differ from all 
the unmistakable perispermic membranes of other examples. I find at h a small mass 
of cellular tissue which appears to me to be part of the parenchyma of the interior of 
the nucleus. If this is so, it follows that the true perispermic membrane is here blended 
with the nucular one throughout the greater part of its course, as in fig. 86. Since the 
seed thus appears to occupy an intermediate position between Conostoma oblonga and 
C. ovalis , it may be provisionally recognized as Conostoma intermedia . Its length is 
about T3 and its diameter ’07. 
Fig. 85 represents the external aspect of a small seed obtained by Mr. Aitken, 
of Bacup, from the Ganister bed near Oldham, in which such objects are very rare. I 
believe it will prove to be a distinct species of Conostoma ; but unfortunately its internal 
structures are imperfectly preserved, but enough remains to show that it is distinct from 
all those which I have described. 
Figs. 88-93 represent five sections of another remarkable seed w T hich is very distinct 
from those already described, but of which I have only found one solitary specimen. 
Hence I have adopted the plan which I have followed in several other cases. I began 
grinding at the exterior of the seed, where I first obtained the appearances represented 
in fig. 89 ; and as I ground deeper into the seed I sketched the structures which succes- 
sively presented themselves until I reached what appeared to be nearly the centre of the 
seed, as seen in fig. 93. I believe that the centre of the apex of the seed is approached 
in fig. 92, but I was nearer the centre of the chalazal extremity in fig. 93. The irregu- 
larities in the outline of this seed demonstrate that the outer layer ( a ) was a fleshy 
sarcotesta, capable of being irregularly shrivelled up. It consisted, as is seen in figs. 88 
& 93, of parenchyma composed of very minute cells. The greater part of fig. 89 is a 
tangential section made in the plane of this sarcotesta, with a small projection (Jc) at its 
chalazal base, which, I presume, has been part of a funiculus. Near the apex the 
tissues of the sarcotesta open out to form a wide micropyle, terminating, in this section, 
in two thin and converging margins ( a ! a 1 )*. Within these margins there is a ring (li) 
of delicate parenchymatous tissue. The opening in its centre obviously shows that the 
section has here intersected a cylindrical canal. In fig. 90 we find that the section 
has not only reached, but partly passed through a thin and delicate prosenchymatous 
structure (/'), which is apparently the nucular membrane. At the micropyle we still 
have the upper ring (A), but we now find a similar one ( li !) at the lower end of the 
* Dr. Dawson has figured a seed from the Devonian Beds of New Brunswick, under the name of Cardiocarpon 
cornutum (“ The Fossil Plants of the Devonian and Upper Silurian Formations of Canada,” Geological Survey 
of Canada, 1871, p. 60, pi. sis. fig. 214), in which the testa “divides into two inflesed processes at top.” 
