Seward's “ Fossil Plants 
267 
the family is further confirmed by cases in which the sporangia are 
preserved. Its earliest members become merged in the synthetic 
group of Palaeozoic Ferns called Primofilices by Mr. Arber and 
Coenopterideae by Professor Seward. A fine section of the 
Permian Osmundaceous Fern Thamnopteris Schlechtendalii is 
depicted in the frontispiece to the present volume. 
The geological history of the other Fern families is traced, so 
far as the available material permits. It is interesting to note that 
both in the Gleicheniaceae and Matonineae (the latter a considerable 
group in Mesozoic times) conclusive anatomical evidence is afforded 
by specimens from the Wealden of Belgium, preserved as lignite, 
which “ might easily be mistaken for rather old and brown pieces 
of recent plants” (p. 353). A diagrammatic figure of a section of 
Matonidium from this remarkable material is given on p. 310 (Fig. 
237, D). It is to be hoped that the specimens may eventually be de¬ 
scribed and figured in detail by the discoverer, Professor Bommer. 
Leaving the Leptosporangiate families, now forming by far the 
chief part of the Ferns, we next come to the Marattiales, to which 
so important a role in the Palaeozoic Flora has been attributed. 
Chapter XXII is limited to the evidence drawn from the fronds 
and sporangia, while the anatomical characters are discussed under 
the heading Psaronieae, in the following chapter. It would perhaps 
have been the more logical course to include the latter under the 
general heading “ Marattiales,” for the anatomical evidence from the 
Psaronius stems is now the best proof we have of the existence of 
Marattiales in Palaeozoic tissues. Of course the proof is far from 
absolute ; as the author says : “ it is not impossible that Psaronius 
stems bore fronds which produced Pteridosperm organs of repro¬ 
duction ” (p. 426). As the sporangial characters are certainly not 
conclusive, it will be seen that the position of the family in the 
primary floras is precarious. 
Chapter XXV is headed Coenopterideae. This new name is 
used by the author in two somewhat different senses; on p. 365 it 
is proposed as a synonym for Botryopterideae, while on p. 433 it is 
employed in a wider sense, corresponding to Arber’s Primofilices, 
of which the Botryopterideae are only a part, though the most 
important. In the former sense the name is superfluous ; in the 
latter its introduction is justified. In spite, however, of Professor 
Seward’s well-founded criticism of the word Primofilices, as 
implying the primitive or primary nature of the group, Mr. Arber’s 
name is so clear and intelligible that it is not likely to go out of use. 
The new designation, Coenopterideae, refers to the generalized 
character of these early Ferns. 1 
The author adopts the division of Botryopterideae into two 
families, the Botryoptereae and the Zygoptereae ; in the former he 
includes Tubicaulis on account of its simple stelar structure, while 
Stauropteris is placed under Zygoptereae. In the latter point he 
follows Dr. Paul Bertrand, from whom he differs as to the position 
to be assigned to Tubicaulis. P. Bertrand’s reference of Williamson’s 
Zygopteris Grayi to Ankyroptcris, which the author provisionally 
adopts, is incorrect, if, as Mr. Kidston finds, its petiole is identical 
with Z. di-upsilon, for the latter is a typical Etapteris on the 
Bertrand classification. 
Kidston and Gwynne-Vaughan, whose important work on 
Fossil Osmundaceae has been already mentioned, said that if (as 
they believe) the Zygopteroid line of descent is near that of the 
1 Kmvof— Lat. communis, common or general. 
