176 The Meeting of the British Association. 
Professor F. W. Oliver gave a preliminary account of an 
investigation which is being made by Miss Edith Chick and himself 
into the morphology of the Coniferous genus, Torreya. It seems 
likely that Torreya, of which practically nothing is hitherto known, 
will prove not less interesting than Ginkgo, as a rather isolated and 
ancient genus of Gymnosperms. Professor Oliver’s account related 
principally to the seed, which is a complicated structure shewing a 
clear affinity with some of the Palaeozoic Gymnospermous seeds. 
The view was put forward that while the apex of the seed is an ancient 
structure, the lower part has been more recently intercalated. 
Mesareh structure has been found in the cotyledon petiole, and a 
very clear transition can be traced between the centripetal xylem 
and the abundant transfusion-tissue. The mesarchy does not, 
however, extend into the hypocotyl as it does in Ginkgo. 
Of the papers on fossil botany, two important contributions 
were made by Miss Benson. In one of these the seed-like fructifi¬ 
cation of Miadesmia menibranacea, which has already been described 
and figured by her in the March number of this journal (p. 58 ) was 
dealt with. It is a curious fact that while there is a very strong 
probability of the modern seed-plants having been derived from an 
old Fern stock, the two examples of “incipient seeds” at present 
discovered— Lepidocarpon and Miadesmia —should both belong to 
the Lycopodineous phylum. In the other paper Miss Benson 
described a group of sporangia probably belonging to what is known 
as the “ Calymmatotheca- type,” shewing a thick wall of several 
layers of cells and some large tracheids. The close association of 
these sporangia with petioles of Lyginodendron leads to the 
hypothesis that they really belong to that plant. If this should 
prove to be the case, it will be the first recorded instance df a 
Cycado-filicinean fructification The structure of the sporangia is 
of special interest in connexion with Professor Oliver’s form, 
provisionally named Tracheotheca, also described in the March number 
of this journal, (p. 60 ). Possibly this type of sporangium with a vascular 
wall was in Palaeozoic times widely distributed among plants of 
Filicinean affinity. If it is really a forerunner of the seed of 
Phanerogams, the discovery of the intermediate types will be 
awaited with great interest. 
Professor Oliver delivered the “ semi-popular ” lecture on 
“ Ancient and Modern Seeds,” bringing together the facts known 
as to the conditions of evolution of the seed. The latter part of 
the lecture was devoted to a consideration of the complicated seeds 
