430 Solms-Laubach. — On the Fructification 
in iron oxide and pyrites, and of having lain exposed a long time since 
it weathered out. All the facts show beyond doubt that it really comes 
from the Lower Greensand. A further proof is that in the argilla- 
ceous coating of the microscopical preparations in the British Museum 
I found a Foraminifer resembling a Rotalia , and this points to the 
marine character of the deposit containing the stem. I made enquiries 
after the Cycadean stem mentioned in the memorandum above as in 
the possession of Dr. Leeson, of Bonchurch, and purchased it ; it was 
found on a heap of stones on the land of the discoverer, now de- 
ceased. It is in fact what it appears to be, a second specimen of 
Bennettites gibsonianus ; its further examination must wait some 
future opportunity. 
The fruit-bearing lateral spadices of Bennettites gibsonianus 
are, according to Carruthers, of axillary origin, as had been 
already stated by R. Brown. But they do not by any means 
occur in every leaf-axil ; on the contrary, the majority of leaf- 
axils are in most cases empty. I would remark, however, that 
this view is very natural, and is indeed highly probable, but that 
we can hardly hope to give a decisive answer to the question. 
A short time since we were still in ignorance as to the mode of 
origin of the flowers in living Cycads. The position of the 
fructifications in Bennettiteae, as far as I can judge from the 
slices at my command, follows no fixed rule ; in some cases 
they emerge singly from between the leaf-bases which cover the 
stem ; in others they appear in groups, and are sometimes so 
crowded together as to be in close contact with one another. 
I also observed, when cutting a fragment into transverse slices, 
that the spadices are not all of the same length ; and that in 
the lower sections new ones, completely covered by the leaf- 
bases which close over them, were exposed between those 
previously observed. On comparing these preparations, I 
could not resist the impression that the new spadices were 
lateral branches of those which projected further from the 
axis. If this is the case, we should occasionally find fascicled 
systems of fertile axes emerging in a body and in close con- 
tiguity with one another, or thrusting their shoots singly into 
the interstices between the leaf-bases of the armour. But 
