354 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



well along in preparation that it may not again need mention in a Year Book 

 report. Most of the plates are assembled or the material for them is in view. 

 The chapters or their outlines have taken form. The subjects for the pen 

 drawings of the text are the more difficult incomplete part of the work. 



During the year two events have greatly heartened paleobotanists in 

 general. One is the publication, by R. E. Torrey, of descriptions of a number 

 of lignitic gymnosperm stems sectioned by methods brought into use by 

 Jeffrey. Although there may not be agreement with all the conclusions as to 

 lines of descent, one may for the first time more fairly speculate on the dis- 

 tribution and antiquity of the North American pines and araucarians. Dif- 

 ficult to work with, but in reality the stage preceding silicification and retain- 

 ing the critical structures far more perfectly on the average, lignitized 

 material is far more abundant than is commonly recognized. The hope is 

 again expressed that well-lignitized cycadeoids may not fail of discovery. 

 From such, well sectioned, the last word could be said about structure, and 

 particularly affinity to earlier angiosperms as contrasted with pines, for so 

 far no direct knowledge of the stem structure of the more generalized cycade- 

 oids has been brought to light. 



The second event, perhaps the most notable in American palaeobotany 

 since the appearance of Hollick and Jeffrey's studies of the lignitized conifers 

 of Long Island, is the announcement from the University of Chicago of the 

 long-awaited discovery of "coal balls" in the Pennsylvanian of Illinois and 

 Kentucky. As the first result of study, small stems with a somewhat primitive 

 but nevertheless determinate monocotyledonous structure have been described 

 by J. H. Hoskins. This is a momentous extension of the angiosperm record, 

 fully justifying ideas of plant antiquity and parallelism in descent outlined in 

 volume II of the American Fossil Cycads (cf. p. 206 et seq.). 



