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Ipomoea purpurea pollen grain. Fluorescence micrograph of immature grain treated with highly dilute primuline solutions. The foot-layer and nexine-2 layers are becoming differentiated. SPOROPOLLENIN Proceedings of a Symposium held at the Geology Department, Imperial College, London, 23-25 September, 1970 Edited by J. BROOKS, P. R. GRANT, MARJORIE MUIR, P . VAN GLJZEL AND G . SHAW ACADEMIC PRESS - LONDON • NEW YORK ACADEMIC PRESS INC. (LONDON) LTD Berkeley Square House Berkeley Square, London, W1X 6BA U.S. Edition published by ACADEMIC PRESS INC. 111 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10003 Copyright © 1971 By ACADEMIC PRESS INC. (LONDON) LTD All Rights Reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by photostat, microfilm or any other means, without written permission from the publishers Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 71-149695 ISBN: 0-12-135750-3 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY William Clowes and Sons Limited, London, Beccles and Colchester EDITORS1 PREFACE The concept of a meeting to discuss Sporopollenin began simply at an informal discussion held at the BP Research Centre in March, 1970. The participants at that meeting decided that it would be interesting to meet again in September, and to invite a few more people to contribute. It was estimated that perhaps about 20 people might attend. However, interest in the subject proved to be more widespread than initially supposed, and within a few weeks of its inception, the potential for a full inter national Symposium to be held under the aegis of the International Palynological Committee became apparent. As we soon decided that the Symposium could provide a valuable publication, it became evident that supporting funds and accommodation would be necessary. It is with sincere thanks that we here acknowledge the generosity of the British Petroleum Company Limited, Shell Oil Company, and the Royal Society, Professor J. Sutton of the Geology Department and the authorities of Imperial College London for their kind hospitality and co-operation. The staff of Academic Press are to be thanked for their aid and encouragement in producing the Proceedings Volume. We are also grateful to all the individual secretaries who laboured to produce the camera-ready copy; special thanks must go to Miss Wendy Coleman for her forbearance in making amendments and minor alterations to the scripts. Any points in the discussion, adequately covered in papers, have been omitted from the transcript of the discussion. We do not feel that it is necessary for us to make a formal introduction to the subject of Sporopollenin, as this is covered comprehensively in individual papers. The brief foreword by Professor Dr. R. Potonie and the summary by Professor Dr. P.P. Jonker are as effective as anything we could achieve here. October 1970 v FOREWORD A Symposium on Sporopollenin was held on September 23rd 25th, 1970 in the Geology Department, Imperial College, London. The meeting was excellently organised by Dr. M. MUTR and Mr. P. GRAM 1 of that department, in co-operation with Dr. J. BROOKS, from the British Petroleum Company, Sunbury, Middlesex, and Dr. P. van GIJZEL, Afd. Fluorescence Microscopy, Faculty of Science of the Catholic University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. We must thank the organisers very much for having provided a forum for discussion on the many different aspects of fossil and Recent spore-coats. Many of the papers published in the following pages are important to the further investigations of sporopollenin in pure science and in industry. Botanists long ago were aware that the substance of the coats of spores and pollen grains was very resistant. They called it cutine - a name which was also applied to the material whi