CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE PHANKROGAiMIC LABORATORIES 

 OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. — No. 59. 



CRETACEOUS PITYOXYLA FRO:vr CLTFFWOOD, NEW 



JERSEY. 



By Ruth Holden. 

 Presented by E. C. Jeffrey. Received December 1, 1912. 



During the spring of several successive years, Dr. E. C. Jeffrey 

 collected a considerable amount of lignite from the Middle Cretaceous 

 of Cliffwood, New Jersey, which he has since turned over to the writer 

 for investigation. The material was from two localities, — that from 

 the yards of the Cliffwood Brick Company, and that from Cliffwood 

 Beach. The former lot was as a whole badly pyritized and of no 

 value from a structural standpoint; while the latter was often per- 

 fectly preserved, revealing all the details of its structure under micro- 

 scopical examination. The greater part was found to belong to the 

 genera Cupressinoxijlon, Araucarioxylon, and Brachyoxylon, and will 

 be described later. There were also specimens representing three 

 types of Pityoxylon; the characteristics and affinities of which it is 

 the purpose of this paper to discuss. 



Pinus protosclerojntys n. sp. 



It will be appropriate to begin with the one which most closely 

 resembles modern forms. Figures a, c, and e, Plate 1, reveal the general 

 features of the lignite in question. It will be noticed that the tra- 

 cheides are small and thick walled. The summer elements are few in 

 number, but limit a well marked annual ring, as shown in the lower 

 part of Figure a. Resin ducts such as are characteristic of all Pityoxyla 

 occur in two planes. Figure a includes two vertical canals, and to the 

 right a horizontal one. It is apparent that both are completely 

 filled with tyloses, — a condition more clearly seen in Figures c and e. 

 Surroiniding each, there is a jacket of epithelial parenchyma. The 

 cells composing this jacket are thin walled, heavily pitted, and in 

 general devoid of contents. Figure d, on the other hand, illustrates 

 a case where they are filled with a dark, resinous substance. Figure b 

 gives the topography next the pith, — at a lower magnification. It 

 will be noticed that, as in the hard pines, there is a double series of 



