142 
The “ Origin of Gymnosperms ” 
roots, leaves, and its male and female reproductive organs—and 
would point out its strong similarity with that of Osmunda. He 
would also illustrate the similarity of its petiolar strand with that 
of Lygodium, not because he suggested any special affinity between 
Lyginodendron and these ferns, but to exhibit the undoubted 
Filicinean affinities of the genus. The anatomical characters also 
suggested Cycadean affinities, and on this point the discovery of the 
seed was quite decisive. The male organs, which we were now 
beginning to know, further supported the Filicinean affinities of 
Lyginodendron. Mr. Kidston had described Crossotheca Hceninghansi, 
of which he would shew them a lantern slide, and had proved that 
the sterile leaflets connected with it were identical with Sphenopteris 
Hceninghansi, known as the leaf of Lyginodendron. Some years ago 
Miss Benson had described a fructification shewing structure as the 
microsporangia of Lyginodendron and had called it Telangium 
8.30 Scotti (lantern slide). This was probably identical, or at least 
co-generic, with Crossotheca Hceninghansi. These sporangia 
were united into synangia. There was a fossil named Scolecopteris 
(lantern slide) which shewed synangia and had always been consi¬ 
dered Marattiaceous, but it was so much like Crossotheca that just 
possibly it and others of the same type also might be the male 
fructification of a Pteridosperm. He would shew them illustrations 
of the synangia of various Marattiaceae, and point out that the male 
organs of Pteridosperms were really so much like them that we 
might fairly conclude their common ancestors to have been fern-like. 
Lately things had gone rather further than they had anticipated. 
The actual number of known “seed-bearing Ferns” was not great, 
some half-dozen in all, but they represented nearly every group of 
carboniferous Ferns, so that suspicion was cast upon the whole. 
It was the distinguished French palaeo-botanist, Professor Zeiller, 
who first made the difficulty acute. At one time he was rather 
sceptical on the subject of the Cycadofilices, inclining to regard them 
merely as a peculiar group of ferns, but the recent discoveries had 
made him an ardent convert, and recently he had published an 
article in the “Revue Generate des Sciences” in which he showed 
how the position had changed. If, he asked, these supposed Ferns 
were all, or nearly all, Pteridosperms, where were the Ferns from 
which they came ? Now it was true that Ferns could not be regarded 
as the dominant group in the Palaeozoic they were once thought, 
but the chances were that the Botryopterideae and some of the 
plants with fructifications of the Marattiaceous type were genuine 
Ferns. The Botryopterideae were certainly a fairly varied group, 
though they were not much known except to the specialist. One 
thing we must always remember about the Carboniferous flora. 
We were attempting to reconstruct the whole flora from an 
extremely fragmentary portion of it to which alone we had access. 
It was like trying to reconstruct the present flora of England from 
the plants found on Walberswick Marshes. There was one point in 
Professor Oliver’s opening address he could not agree with. He 
was very glad to see a reaction against the view that there were no 
Palaeozoic Ferns, but he thought Professor Oliver went too far in 
suggesting that there might have been true cryptogamic Cycado¬ 
filices, e.g., a cryptogamic Lyginodendron , mixed with the Pterido- 
spermic members. Professor Oliver had cited the Palaeozoic 
Lycopods, some of which had seed-like organs while others were 
