58 Margaret Benson. 
and the cells in adjacent tangential planes are commonly connected 
across the spaces by glove-finger like unions. In this way a certain 
amount of shearing action and other displacements are provided 
for, whilst at the same time damage to the cells themselves is 
avoided. 
The chief points in this note may he thus summarised :— 
1. —The opening and closing of Tulip flowers is independent of 
growth and is regulated by a special mechanism. 
2 . —The mechanism consists of a sheet of cells near the outer 
face of the petals which are capable of altering their size, either on 
account of a greater readiness to acquire and part with water 
(according to the condition of stimulation) as compared with the 
cell-layers interior to them, or else owing to a greater range of 
extensibility on the part of their cell-walls as compared with the 
walls of the cells interior to them. 
3. —The anatomical relations of the parenchyma cells to each 
other, and the distribution of the intercellular spaces, are such as 
readily admit of the occurrence of the movement, whilst minimising 
the risks of attendant lesions. 
A NEW LYCOPODIACEOUS SEED-LIKE ORGAN. 
I N the second number of this Journal appeared a review of 
Dr. Scott’s memoir on Lepidocarpou. The present preliminary 
note to a fuller paper which I hope soon to publish, is to announce 
the discovery of an analogous structure from the Lower Coal 
Measures. 
In some slides prepared by Mr. J. Lomax, from the Ganister 
Beds of Dulcsgate, Lancashire, and sent by him in May, 1901, to 
Professor F. W. Oliver, who placed them in the hands of 
Dr. Scott, there were observed megasporophylls, some in transverse 
section and some in radial and horizontal section. From these 
it could be demonstrated that the lamina bore a large ligule and a 
megasporange, both of which were entirely covered in, except at 
the apex, by a velum or integument. One megaspore with a thin 
wall, like that of Lepidocarpou , was found in each megasporange. 
The lamina extended right and left and to the apex as a thin 
lamella, one cell thick. The microsporophylls, which have since 
been found, also possess a large deep-seated ligule and thin border, 
