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Notes . 
The cupule enclosing the seed was borne terminally on a pedicel ; it formed a 
continuous, ribbed cup below, and divided above into a number of lobes or segments. 
Externally, both pedicel and cupule were studded with numerous prominent multi- 
cellular glands of capitate form. The anatomy indicates that the whole organ was of 
a foliar nature. 
A comparison with the vegetative organs of Lyginodendron O/d/iamium, with 
which the seeds are intimately associated, demonstrates a complete agreement in the 
structure of the glands and in the anatomy of the vascular system. Where vegetative 
and reproductive organs, presenting identical structural features, not known to occur 
in other plants, are thus found in close and constant association, the inference that the 
one belonged to the other appears irresistible. 
As regards the position of the seed on the plant, two possibilities are discussed ; 
the cupule, with its pedicel, may either represent an entire sporophyll, or a modified 
pinnule of a compound leaf. Either view is tenable, but various comparative con- 
siderations lend a somewhat greater probability to the second alternative. 
In the concluding section of the paper, the systematic position of Lyginodendron 
is discussed. On the whole of the evidence, the position of the genus as a member 
of a group of plants transitional between Filicales and Gymnosperms appears to be 
definitely established. While many Filicinean characters are retained, the plant, in 
the organization of its seed, had fully attained the level of a Palaeozoic Gymnosperm. 
There are many indications that other genera, now grouped under Cycadofilices, had 
likewise become seed-bearing plants. It is proposed to found a distinct class, under 
the name Pteridospermae , to embrace those Palaeozoic plants with the habit and much 
of the internal organization of Ferns, which were reproduced by means of seeds. At 
present, the families Lyginodendreae and Medulloseae may be placed, with little risk 
of error, in the new class, Pteridospermae. 
F. W. OLIVER and D. H. SCOTT. 
c 
