Personal Notes. 
243 
Miss Benson opened a discussion on the “ Synangial Origin of 
the Seed,” and brought forward a skilfully-marshalled series of facts 
and general considerations supporting the view that the Gyrnno- 
spermous seed has originated from a synangium of which the 
peripheral members have become sterilised, the central one alone 
remaining fertile. 
Professor Oliver, Dr. Scott and Mr. Worsdell took part in the 
discussion. 
PERSONAL NOTES AND NEWS. 
Dr. F. E. Fritsch has just returned from a twelve weeks’ stay 
in Ceylon. He has been mainly engaged with a study of the con¬ 
ditions of life and distribution of the freshwater Algae, some time 
having been spent in examining the Algae of the mangrove swamps 
and river estuaries; these have proved to be of considerable 
interest. Plankton has been collected from a large number of 
different pieces of freshwater. Dr. Fritsch has also collected a 
large quantity of material of Hippocrateaceae and other orders of 
lactiferous plants. 
Mr. R. H. Yapp, the Assistant-Curator of the University 
Herbarium at Cambridge has been appointed to the vacant Pro¬ 
fessorship of Botany at University College, Aberystwyth. 
Mr. Boodle’s paper on Anthocyanin which was announced for 
the present number of this journal will appear in a subsequent 
issue. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE ORIGIN OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 
DKau Sir, 
The question of the origin of Angiosperins—one of the most fascinating 
and difficult of botanical problems—has of late been revived as a fruitful 
subject for discussion and enquiry. I take this opportunity of calling 
attention to the neglect on the part of botanists of one of the most 
important forms of evidence bearing on this question. In attempting to 
obtain information in regard to the phylogeny of Monocotyledons and 
Dicotyledons, their common or separate origin, and the relationship which 
they bear to Gymnosperms or Pteridophytes, we must lay under contribu¬ 
tion not merely the facts obtained by anatomical and embryological 
investigations of recent plants but extend our search for evidence into the 
records of the rocks. It is the latter class of evidence to which I wish to 
call attention 
