552 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



Cretaceous. Araucariopitys, not only shows resin canals closely 

 resembling those of the Abietineae, but likewise has wood rays, with 

 strongly pitted cells very similar to those found in Abietineous woods. 

 Previously Seward ^^ had described woods of similar organization from 

 the Lias (Upper Jurassic) of Yorkshire in England, under the appella- 

 tion Araucarioxylon Lindlcyi. These woods, which, so far as it is 

 possible to judge from Professor Seward's description, belong partly 

 to the Brachyoxylon and partly to the Araucariopitys type, were 

 characterized by very well marked Araucarian pitting of the tracheids, 

 accompanied by quite typical traumatic ligneous resin canals. Con- 

 temporaneously with the present writer's article on Araucariopitys, 

 Gothan published a description of the fossil woods of the Upper Juras- 

 sic of Xing Carl's Land.^^ These are characterized by the presence of 

 Araucarian pitting of the tracheids of the wood, by strongly pitted 

 rays, resembling those of Abietineous woods, by, for the most part, 

 terminal wood parenchyma, and often by the presence of traumatic 

 resin canals. These woods are in general considered by Gothan to be 

 intermediate between the Araucariineae and Abietineae and to indicate 

 a derivation of the latter tribe from Araucarian ancestry. The writer 

 agrees with Professor Seward in considering that the woods in question 

 are distinctly on the Araucarian side in affinities. He is further of the 

 opinion, which is apparently not shared by Professor Seward, that the 

 Araucariineae on the basis of structure of Mesozoic woods are derived 

 from the Abietineae and not vice versa, as is the opinion of the majority 

 of competent investigators at the present time. Recently an over- 

 whelming amount of evidence has been brought to light which appears 

 to strongly support the present writer's contentions. More recently 

 Gothan has published an extensive memoir on the fossil woods of the 

 island of Spitzbergen, in which he described a number of interesting 

 woods from the upper Jurassic (or Lower Cretaceous!!) resembling 

 strongly those of King Carl's Land and in some instances presenting 

 a still more striking combination of Abietineous and i\raucarian 

 characters.^* The author in this memoir restates and emphasizes 

 his opinion that the Abietineae have been derived from Araucarian 

 ancestors. 



Figure a, Plate 7, shows the transverse section of a wounded speci- 



32 Cat. Mesozoic Plants. Brit. Museum, Jurassic Plants, 2, pps. 56-59, 

 London (1904). 



33 Kung. Svensk. Vetenskap. Handlingar, 42, No. 10. Berlin (1908). 



34 Kung. Svensk. Vetenskap. Handlingar, 45, No. 8. Uppsala u. Stock- 

 holm (1910) 



