This practice I followed in 1895[1091], but my usage of the two generic names has not been consistent, the name _Cycadeoidea_ being afterwards employed[1092] in a more comprehensive sense. The investigation of the reproductive shoots of American Lower Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic Cycadean stems[1093] has demonstrated the practical identity of their ovulate strobili with those of the English _Bennettites_. It is clear that the American stems as well as numerous specimens from Italy and other European localities are generically inseparable from _Bennettites_. The adoption of _Cycadeoidea_ by Wieland, following Ward, has naturally strengthened the claim of Buckland’s genus at least so far as wide usage is concerned, and with some reluctance I propose to fall in with this terminology and for the sake of convenience to give up the use of _Bennettites_. Among Mesozoic Cycadean stems agreeing with those of recent genera in habit and in the presence of an armour of persistent leaf-bases are several which afford no evidence either of the occurrence of fertile shoots or of lateral shoots with terminal flowers. To such stems the name _Cycadeoidea_ has been applied, the designation _Bennettites_ being restricted to stems with lateral fertile shoots: this practice of treating the absence of reproductive shoots as a characteristic feature of _Cycadeoidea_ is regarded by Wieland as illogical and artificial; and if, as seems probable, he is correct in believing that the majority of the Mesozoic Cycadean plants culminated their vegetative period by prolific development of flowers, the absence of flowering branches would be contingent on a certain stage of development and not a generic character. Dr Stopes[1094] has recently published facts with regard to the anatomical features of Cycadean stems which have a bearing on the vexed question of nomenclature, but are more important from a morphological point of view as they indicate a closer agreement between certain types of Lower Cretaceous stems and those of _Cycas_ and other recent genera, in which successive rings of vascular tissue are developed, than has previously been recognised. In her diagnosis of _Cycadeoidea_ she includes the following statement: ‘In its internal anatomy the trunk shows two or more (up to eight are recorded) zones of secondary wood, the zones composed of distinct series of tracheids each more or less regularly arranged in radial sequence.’ It is claimed that the addition of this character constitutes for the first time a clear distinction between _Cycadeoidea_ and _Bennettites_. Dr Stopes states that the two stems on which Buckland founded the genus _Cycadeoidea_ are lost and adds that Buckland’s type has certain anatomical features which are not found in _Bennettites_. Buckland in his description of _C. microphylla_ states that there are ‘two laminated circles’ in the stem instead of the usual single cylinder, a character suggestive of _Cycas_. In the original figure of this