of Bennettites gibsonianus, Carr. 427 
of Bennettiteae, but they have no fructifications, and show only 
the basal transverse sections of the lateral spadices. I shall 
have to return to them in another place. 
With regard to the specimen known to be the original 
block of Bennettites gibsonianus , we have the following memo- 
randum, which was communicated to Carruthers by a member 
of the family of the discoverer, and which I was permitted to 
copy in the British Museum. It runs thus : ‘ This fossil plant 
was found by Thomas Field Gibson, Esq., in the Lower Green- 
sand at Luccomb Chine, Isle of Wight, in the year 1856 or 
1857. In the spring of 1858 it was taken to Mr. Yates’ house 
at Highgate, where it was examined by Dr. Hooker and 
Mr. Morris, Professor of Geology at University College. They 
split it open, and found oval pods containing little seeds 
arranged regularly round near the edge. Each pod was about 
an inch and a half long. The best pieces containing the most 
perfect pods were kept by Mr. Gibson and Dr. Hooker, but 
this piece is much larger than the other part which was broken 
up, being about two-thirds of the original lump. I believe 
a similar specimen was found by Dr. Leeson, of Bonchurch.’ 
It appears, therefore, that the original block was broken in 
two with a hammer, and was thus split into two unequal 
halves, and beside these into a large number of smaller frag- 
ments. This explains why the two main pieces do not fit into 
one another in their present state. Hooker took the smaller 
(upper) main piece, and it is now in the Museum at Kew; 
the larger (under) main piece was made over by Gibson’s 
family to the Botanical Department of the British Museum. 
Hooker appears to have used some of the smaller fragments 
for the preparation of slices ; others were kept by Morris, 
from whose hands they passed into the private possession of 
Carruthers. I gather this from the fact that Carruthers has a 
fragment which still bears Morris’ label written with his own 
hand. 
Thus the material of Bennettites gibsonianus consists in its 
present state of the following pieces : — 
1. Of the large and fine block in the Geological Department 
