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VII.—Nathorst's Methods of studying Cutinised Portions of Fossil Plants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

F. A. Bather
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Extract

Botanists who study the tissues of Living plants, or those palæobotanists who deal with actual petrifactions, have scarcely any idea of the difficulties that meet the worker on carbonised plantremains, especially when the material is so limited that the research cannot be repeated in the event of damage to a single preparation. Moreover, the research can be conducted only on those portions of the tissue that are cutinised, since all the rest have been carbonised or destroyed in the course of fossilisation, and no longer appear after the preparations have been bleached. The student of Mesozoic plants is in the further unhappy position that, with a few notable exceptions, he rarely finds portions of the plant that show any structure; he in particular must direct his attention to the cutinised membranes, and above all to the cuticle of the leaves and stems and, in the case of Pteridophyta, to the spores.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 5 , Issue 10 , October 1908 , pp. 454 - 459
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1908

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References

page 454 note 1 For these two diagrams and for valuable assistance I am indebted to a young engineer, Mr. W. E. James.

page 455 note 1 Nathorst, A. G., 1908, “Paläobotanische Mitteilungen, Nos. 3–6”Google Scholar: K. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., xliii, 3 and 6. No. 3, “Lycostrobus Scotti, eine grosse Sporophyllähre aus den rätischen Ablagerungen Schonens”; No. 4, “Ueber die Untersuchung kutinisierter fossiler Pflanzenteile”; No. 5, “Ueber Nathorstia Heer”; No. 6, “Antholithus Zeilleri, n.sp., mitnoch erhaltenen Pollenkörnern aus den rhätischen Ablagerungen Schonens.” In all, 46 pages, 6 plates.

page 455 note 2 See Geol,. Mag., Oct., 1907, pp. 437–40.

page 455 note 3 See, for instance, Seward, A. C., “Fossil Plants,” 1898, p. 75, at bottom.Google Scholar

page 456 note 1 Nathorst, A. G., 1907, “Paläobotanische Mitteilungen, No. 2, Die Kutikula der Blätter von Dictyozamites Johnstrupi, Nath.”: op. cit., xlii, No. 5.Google Scholar

page 456 note 2 Nathorst, A. G., 1907, “Paläobot. Mitt. No. 1, Pseudocycas, u.s.w.”Google Scholar: ibid.

page 459 note 1 The name Antholithus, originally used by Linné in Syst. Nat., ed. xii, as a designation for ‘Phytolithus floris,’ is here adopted by Professor Nathorst as a general term for all fossil flowers. It implies that the systematic position of the epecies cannot yet be determined. Compare the use of the words Radiolus, Entrochus, and Cystis in Echinology.