Rhodora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 11. September, 1909. No. 129 
PARACEDROXYLON, A NEW TYPE OF ARAUCARIAN 
WOOD. 
EpMvND W. SINNOTT. 
(Plates 80 and 81.) 
Pror. J. B. WoopwonTH, of Harvard University, collected in 1906 
some specimens of lignite from the clays of Second Cliff, Scituate, 
Massachusetts. This material was recently turned over to the writer 
for investigation. It consisted of several good-sized pieces, the largest 
of which was about 8 em. long, З em. wide and З cm. thick. ‘There 
were also a number of smaller bits. his fossil wood was treated 
with 95% alcohol in a paraffin bath over night, and then left for 24 
hours іп a 4% solution of caustic potash in 95% alcohol. The solu- 
tion was afterwards neutralized with weak hydrochloric acid. The 
lignite was now softened by a three days’ stay in 20% hydrofluoric acid, 
in wax bottles. All traces of this acid were removed by leaving the 
material for а day under a tap of running water. ‘The wood was now 
carefully dehydrated and embedded in celloidin in the usual way, 
after which microtome sections of it were cut. 
The lignite exhibits an excellent state of preservation. ‘Though it 
has been distorted somewhat by pressure, the details of its anatomy, 
such as the tori of the bordered pits, are still to be made out very 
clearly. А 
In the transverse section (Fig. 1), the wood is seen to be composed 
entirely of tracheids, traversed by thin-walled resinous medullary rays. 
The annual rings, in what is apparently the normal condition, are 
broad and not well marked, only the last few rows of cells of the 
1Contributions from the Phanerogamic Laboratories of Harvard University, No. 18. 
165 
