394 Watson . — On Mesostrobus, a New Genus of 
tip of the cone. The sporophylls are far more closely set than usual, and 
from the drawing it appears that their peltate heads have been destroyed. 
I have carefully examined some twenty sections of cones of Spencerites , 
and have seen no trace of this coalescence. 
Assuming that the distal ends of the sporophylls are in some cases 
confluent, I cannot see the logical necessity of assuming that the pedicels 
must therefore have been coherent at some period. It is quite probable 
that the adherence in the Williamson section (if really present) is terato- 
logical, and I believe that botanists are now becoming chary of using such 
evidence. 
I might point out here that the enclosure of each sporangium in 
a cell by outgrowths from the sporophylls, which Dr. Lang has shown 
to take place in Lycopoduim cernuum , is paralleled by the condition of the 
Calamitean cone Calamostachys Grand' Euryi y Ren., where the sporangia are 
isolated in groups of four by outgrowths from the bracts above and below. 
I would finally point out that Dr. Langs theories of Spencerites must 
be accepted in their entirety or not at all. 
A further Note on Dr. Lang’s Paper, added April 28, 1909. 
I have now examined the section in the Williamson collection on which 
Dr. Lang relies for his opinion that the sporophylls of Spencerites insignis 
were united distally. 
The section is somewhat thick, and the cone had certainly been much 
macerated before petrifaction. 
Those palaeobotanists who have worked much with sections of coal- 
balls will know the great difficulty of determining whether two adjacent 
organs are in continuity or not under such conditions. 
From a careful examination of the section I came to the conclusion 
that there was no evidence to show that the sporophylls in question were 
really organically connected. The tissue of the peltate expansion is seldom 
well preserved, and in the section under discussion is very much crushed ; 
under these circumstances the evidence is certain to be of the weakest. 
Text-figure 5 °f this paper is a camera lucida drawing of a portion of 
a tangential section of Spencerites insignis of which another portion is shown 
in Fig. 3. 
In this section the three sporophylls B , C, and D appear at first sight 
to be organically connected. 
With an 8 -mm. Zeiss apochromatic objective, however, it is quite 
evident that this appearance is completely deceptive ; sporophyll C is cut 
through the attachment of the sporangium, and the section also cuts the 
sporangium wall parallel to its surface, this wall passes under the edges of 
