D. H. Scott. 
1 8 
GERMINATING SPORES IN A FOSSIL 
FERN-SPORANGIUM. 
By D. H Scott, F.R.S. 
[Text Figs. 60 and 61 .] 
S PORANGIA of Ferns are of fairly common occurrence as 
petrified specimens in the calcareous nodules from the Lower 
Coal-Measures of Lancashire and Yorkshire. A few examples 
have been described and figured by various authors, 1 but no com¬ 
parative investigation of these fossils has yet been undertaken. 
The need for such work is becoming urgent, even apart from other 
1 Carruthers, Notes on some Fossil Plants, Geol. Mag. 1872, 
P- 3 - Fig- 5 ; Williamson. Organisation of Fossil Plants of 
Coal-Measures, Part VIII., Phil. Trans. 1877, p. 219. Figs. 
25-30; Kidston, Fructification and Internal Structure of 
Carboniferous Ferns, Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow, Vol. IX.. 
1889, p. 13, Figs, n-13 ; Bower, Is the Plusporangiate or the 
Leptosporangiate the more primitive Type in the Ferns? 
Ann. of Bot., Vol. V., 1891, p. 124, Plate VII. 
