210 Seward. — Notes on the Geological 
in 1883, as probably the fructification of an A sterophyllites 
type. More recently Kidston 1 has described several examples 
of the same fossil, and it is now generally admitted, as this 
writer shows in his paper, that Pothocites is the strobilus of 
the calamitean genus Bornia. 
The genus Palaeoxyris ( Spirangium ), ranging from the 
Coal-Measures to the Wealden, and referred by some palaeo- 
botanists to Monocotyledons, is now generally regarded as 
the egg-capsule of a fish 2 . Other Palaeozoic fossils which 
have been incorrectly described as Monocotyledons, need 
not be treated of here as possible pitfalls in phylogenetic 
investigations. 
Passing to the Triassic system, we find such genera as 
Yuccites, Aethophyllum, Echinostachys, and others recorded 
as monocotyledonous plants. From the Gr£s bigarre (Bunter) 
of the Vosges, Schimper and Mougeot 3 figured and described 
certain parallel-veined fossils, which in shape and size are 
spoken of as resembling the leaves of Yucca. In Yuccites 
vogesiacus , as represented in PL XXX of the memoir on the 
Vosges plants, we have a very imperfectly preserved im- 
pression of torn plant-structures, which apparently possess 
a parallel venation. This same genus does duty for various 
specimens described by Zigno 4 , and Saporta 5 , and others 
from rocks of Jurassic age. As an example may be mentioned 
Yticcites S chimp erianus, which is possibly a portion of a large 
Cycadean frond 6 7 . In a recent monograph on the fossil flora 
of Portugal, Saporta figures a Lower Lias frond as a species 
of Yuccites 7 ; but an inspection of the figure will probably 
suffice to convince botanists of the absence of any real 
1 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Vol. xi [v], 1883, p. 297. 
'* For references to the literature, see Catalogue of the Mesozoic Plants in the 
British Museum, Wealden Flora, Part II, 1895, p. 224. 
3 Plantes fossiles du Gres Bigarre, 1840. 
4 Flora fossilis formationis Oolithicae, Vol. ii, 1873-85. 
5 Paleontologie Francaise, Vol. iv, 1891 (Plantes Jurassiques), Pis. VIII-X. 
6 Zigno, loc. cit. p. 7, Pi. XXVI, Figs. 1-4. 
7 Saporta, Flore fossile du Portugal (Direct, trav. geolog. Portugal. Lisbon, 
1S94), PI. I, Fig. 24. 
