38 EDWARD WILBER BERRY 



latter with short petioles and dichotomously inciso-partite 

 lamina, with narrow linear segments. Both were cosmopolitan 

 during the Mesozoic and Baiera appears not to have survived 

 into the Cenozoic although Ginkgo was very common in certain 

 regions during the latter era. 



Of the three families of Coniferales (Araucariaceae, Taxaceae 

 and Pinaceae) the Araucariaceae present more well marked 

 features both anatomically and in sporophyll and foliar mor- 

 phology than the other two. The fossil material comprises petri- 

 fied wood, pith-casts, impressions of twigs, leaves, cones, cone- 

 scales and seeds. Several Paleozoic genera have already been 

 mentioned. In the Mesozoic this family was exceedingly com- 

 mon all over the world and included forms almost identical with 

 the existing Araucaria and Dammar a as well as a variety of other 

 types. Thus along with the single seeded ligulate forms are 

 others with a pair of seeds to the scale (Pseudoaraucaria) , and 

 others that were three seeded {Protodammara) . Araucaria has 

 been recorded in the Mesozoic from Spitzbergen on the north to 

 Louis Phillipe Land on the south; from numerous localities in 

 North America, Europe and Asia; and from scattered localities 

 in South America, Africa and Australia. The most abundant 

 forms in the LTpper Cretaceous of the Atlantic Coastal plain 

 from New Jersey to Alabama are leafy twigs and cone-scales 

 of the Araucaria Bidwelli type, and Dammar a cone-scales are 

 found from Greenland to Texas, and in Europe as well. A con- 

 siderable number of genera of Araucariaceae are represented in 

 the Mesozoic of which the best known are perhaps Pagiophyllum 

 and Geinitzia. 



The family Taxaceae was also abundant during the Mesozoic, 

 both sub-families being represented. Some of the representative 

 genera are: Nageiopsis of the Lower Cretaceous; Palissya of the 

 Triassic and Jurassic; Stachytaxus of the late Triassic which had 

 large cupuliferous seeds comparable with those of the modern 

 Dacrydium; Cephalotaxopuis, Protophyllocladus , Palaeotaxus, Tu- 

 mion, Vesquia, etc. The determinations of these forms rests 

 not alone upon impressions of the foliage but upon seeds and 

 cones and structural material of all classes, so there can be no 



