No specimens of _Alethopteris_ fronds have so far been described that afford any information as to the nature of the microsporangia, and we have no means of knowing whether they were borne on naked pedicels as in _Neuropteris heterophylla_, or on modified pinnules as in _N. gigantea_. Zeiller in 1888[306] described some fertile pinnules of _Dictyopteris Schützii_ Roem. from Commentry bearing two rows of long sporangia: he subsequently transferred this species to the genus _Linopteris_[307] and expressed the opinion that the sporangia occur singly and not in groups as he originally believed. Zeiller compares the fertile pinnules with the type _Crossotheca_. Bertrand[308], as the result of examining similar specimens, has suggested that the fringe of pendulous bodies regarded by Zeiller as sporangia may be tooth-like lobes of modified pinnules which served to protect microsporangia borne on the lower surface of the lamina. The nature of the impressions is not clear, though there is little doubt that they are microsporophylls. The fertile pinnae of _Linopteris obliqua_ (Bunb.) described by Carpentier[309] and Bertrand[310] closely resemble the microspore-bearing organs which have been referred to _Neuropteris gigantea_; they have the characters of _Potoniea_ and consist of oval laminae similar to the sterile pinnules but about half their size: the lamina was attached excentrically to a slender stalk (fig. 421, C, E) and traversed by numerous occasionally anastomosing veins. No actual microsporangia have been discovered in organic connexion with the lamina. _b. Megasporangia._ _Neuropteris._ Kidston’s discovery of undoubted seeds attached to pinnae of _Neuropteris_[311] marked an important step in our more exact knowledge of the morphology of Medullosan sporophylls. Specimens from the ironstone balls (Coal Measures) of Coseley near Dudley showed seeds attached to portions of pinnae bearing pinnules of _Neuropteris heterophylla_. The seeds are approximately 3 cm. long and from 1·10 to 1·40 cm. broad; oblong and gradually tapering from the middle to a slightly curved and obtuse apical snout (fig. 422). The outer surface shows numerous longitudinal ribs which no doubt represent hypodermal fibres. The preservation of the seeds, which appear to be circular in section, is not such as to render possible a description of structural features. In their asymmetrical form the seeds agree with the genus _Platyspermum_ as recently defined by Arber, but Kidston’s specimens are in all probability radiospermic. Kidston compares the _Neuropteris_ seeds with _Rhabdocarpus tunicatus_ as figured from the Commentry coalfield[312] and with specimens from Gard named by Grand’Eury _R. subtunicatus_[313]. [Illustration: Fig. 422. _Neuropterocarpus Kidstoni_ (Arber). (After Kidston; × 3.)]