baccata , ivith Remarks on the A ntiquity of the Taxineae . 119 
After removal of the aril the bicarinate seed of Taxns shows a small 
elliptical disc slightly sunk into the base of the seed, and pierced by two 1 
minute foramina in the principal plane (Fig. 4, a). The longitudinal section 
shows that the disc consists of several layers of palisade-like simply pitted 
cells (Fig. 5, ^different from the thicker-walled and isodiametric stone-cells 
composing the rest of the shell (Fig. 5,#). 
The foramina in the basal disc are the external openings of two straight 
canals which convey the two supply bundles of the seed obliquely upwards 
into the seed-cavity. In its further course towards the micropyle each 
strand steadily approaches the inner face of the shell, until at a short 
distance from the micropyle it actually comes into contact with the latter 
and runs along its inner surface for some little distance before dying out 
(compare the young stage in Fig. 1). 
Special mention should be made of the fact that immediately after 
entering the seed-cavity each of the two supply bundles always shows 
1 Seeds with two or more planes of symmetry have a corresponding number of foramina (see 
Fig. 4, b, c ). 
