Our knowledge of this peculiar genus is derived from Brongniart’s description of the type-species _Codonospermum anomalum_[897] (fig. 506, B, C) from St Étienne and from Renault’s account of _C. olivaeforme_[898]. The seeds are globular or ellipsoidal and reach a length of 2 cm.: the testa is differentiated into an outer flesh and a sclerotesta and has usually eight ribs. The most striking feature is the division of the seed into two regions, an upper portion containing the nucellus and megaspore and a lower portion in the form of an empty chamber that probably served as a float (fig. 498, A, _s_). Externally the upper half or seed-proper forms a depressed cupola with eight slightly developed ribs, separated by a circular transverse constriction from the basal chamber (fig. 498, B). There is a fairly large pollen-chamber, _pc_, in which Renault found multicellular microspores in _C. olivaeforme_. In _C. anomalum_ 16 vascular bundles (fig. 498, B, _v_) surround the central region of the seed probably in the peripheral tissue of the nucellus; these bundles unite in the chalazal region to form a strand that passes up the centre of the empty chamber. In _C. anomalum_ the testa of the lower half has eight ribs and corresponding with each rib is a strand of fibrous tissue (fig. 498, B, _f_). In _C. olivaeforme_ the testa is thicker than in _C. anomalum_ and the lower region of the seed is smooth and circular in section. Impressions of _Codonospermum_ are described[899] from Commentry, from the Loire—the Gard district[900], and by Zeiller[901] from Blanzy. There is no decisive evidence as to the parent-plant, but some French authors[902] regard the frequent association of _Codonospermum_ with leaves of _Dolerophyllum_ as significant. =Aetheotesta.= Brongniart. _Aetheotesta elliptica_ Renault. Brongniart instituted the genus _Aetheotesta_[903] for an incomplete seed (_A. subglobosa_) from Grand’ Croix, and Renault[904] subsequently founded the species _A. elliptica_ on much better material. The testa of the elliptical seed, 3 cm. long, consists of an outer region very thin on the flanks but highly developed at the apex and base which forms a sarcotesta characterised in the apical region by large radially disposed spaces, fig. 498, C, _s_; the sclerotesta, composed of harder tissue, is prolonged as an apical beak. There is a large pollen-chamber, _pc_, in which Renault found multicellular microspores (320μ–400μ). In the chalazal region the main vascular supply forms a cup-like investment, _v_, in the basal portion of the nucellus, and at a higher level this breaks up into several nucellar strands. Renault thinks that _Aetheotesta_ is the seed of _Dolerophyllum_, but there is no proof of any connexion. The presence of large spaces in the sarcotesta may be interpreted, as Renault suggests, as evidence of adaptation to dispersal by water. =Eriotesta.= Brongniart.