626 
Notes . 
Two species of Lagenosloma ( L . ovoides and L. physoides ) were 
described by Williamson 1 ; a third species, the subject of the present 
note, was left undescribed by him, though in his MS. catalogue he 
named it, after its discoverer, Lagenostoma Lomaxi , a name which we 
here provisionally adopt. This seed occurs in calcareous nodules of 
the lower Coal-measures, and chiefly at Dulesgate, in Lancashire. 
In general structure the seed L. Lomaxi agrees with L. ovoides. 
It is an orthotropous seed, circular in transverse section, and 
broadest midway between base and apex. The height of the seed 
slightly exceeds the diameter, and in general form it may be com- 
pared with a Jaffa orange. Its height in full-sized specimens is about 
5J mm., the diameter at the equator 4J mm. Many of the specimens 
that have passed through our hands show signs of having become 
detached through the agency of a layer of separation and bear a low 
conical papilla centrally placed at the chalazal end, beneath which the 
actual layer of abscission was situated. 
In the most general relations of its organization the seed approaches 
the Gymnosperm type in that the integument and nucellus are distinct 
from one another in the apical region only, whilst the body of the 
seed, which contains the large single macrospore with traces of pro- 
thallial tissue, shows complete fusion of the integumental and nucellar 
tissues. But in other respects the seed is remarkable. The free 
portion of the nucellus which stands above the macrosporc is conical 
in form, its base is about 0-75 mm. across, and its height somewhat 
greater. The tapering apex reaches to the exterior, plugging the 
micropylar aperture like a cork. The whole of this structure, the 
‘ lagenostome ’ of Williamson, constitutes a pollen-chamber, owing to 
the separation of the nucellar epidermis from the underlying parenchy- 
matous body of the free part of the nucellus. The pollen-chamber 
thus has the form of a bell-shaped cleft situated between the persistent 
epidermis and the central cone of nucellar tissue. Access to the 
chamber is gained at the apex, which is open, and pollen-grains are 
found in its lower part. The integument, which is a simple shell 
where fused with the nucellus, becomes massive and complicated in 
its free part which corresponds to the upper fifth of the seed. In this 
region it is usually composed of nine chambers radially disposed around 
1 Organization, Pt. VIII, Phil. Trans., vol. clxvii, p. 233, Figs. 53-75, and 77- 
79, 1877; Pt. X, Phil. Trans., Pt. II, 1880, p. 517, Figs. 61-63. See Oliver, 
New Phytologist, vol. i, no. 7, 1902. 
