*0n the Fructification of Bennettites gibson- 
ianus, Carr. 
BY 
H. GRAF ZU SOLMS-LAUBACH. 
With Plates XXV and XXVI. 
E have long been acquainted with numerous stems which 
V V are found in the Jurassic and Lower Chalk of Eng- 
land ; and which, wrapped all round in a close armour of leaf- 
bases, are, on account of the similarity of habit, usually classed 
with Cycadeae. It was only gradually that it became known 
that many of these stems, especially when silicified, show the 
internal structure in the most beautiful manner. Buckland 2 
was the first who established this fact in the case of the objects 
known as ‘ birds’ -nests ’ from the dirt-beds of the Island of 
Portland. He also succeeded, with the help of R. Brown, in 
giving a satisfactory explanation of the most important features 
in the internal structure of the stem and of the panoply of leaf- 
bases. Further investigations in the same direction were made 
1 The Editors have thought that this important paper, based as it is entirely on 
English material, should have a place in the pages of the Annals. They desire to 
express their thanks to Graf Solms for the permission to translate his paper ; and 
to Mr. H. E. Garnsey, of Magdalen College, Oxford, for the trouble he has taken 
in preparing this careful translation. The paper was originally published in the 
Botanische Zeitung for 1890. 
2 Buckland, ‘ On the Cycadoideae, a family of fossil plants found in the Oolite 
quarries of the Isle of Portland/ Trans. Geol. Soe. of London, ser. 2, vol. ii. 
(1829), p. 395. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. V. No. XX. November, 1891.] 
