BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS, F.G.S., F.L.S. 157 



Fragments of a kind of jet, in which however, the coniferous 

 structure is very visible, are common also in the Desert Sandstone 

 in Queensland. Finally, there are some fossil Walchia, which 

 evidently bore a large share in forming the coal at Ballinore. 



During the Triassic and Jurassic periods the exclusive reign of 

 cryptogams had given place to an almost exclusive reign of 

 Conifers. They formed the principal part of the vegetation in those 

 times and gave it its particular aspect. Lepidodendron still lived 

 but held a subordinate place, and at the same time Tree-ferns and 

 Cycads in new forms of vegetation took their places amongst the 

 Conifers. At the epoch of their first appearance these as far as 

 fossil evidence will enable us to judge were represented by one 

 type, and that was the araucarian type, at least that is the struc- 

 ture of the most ancient form of coniferous wood known. Several 

 forms closely allied give us the gradual history of the differentia- 

 tion of this proto-araucaria. Towards the middle of the Jurassic 

 period, the Cypresses appear while successive forms of Araucaria 

 have disappeared during the Permian, Liassic and Jurassic periods. 

 From this epoch Araucaria, formerly so numerous commenced to 

 decline in Europe and was represented only by the genus Eutacta, 

 which appeared towards the close of the Jurassic age, and only 

 grows now in some isolated localities of the southern hemisphere. 

 With the close of the tertiary period the age Araucaria became 

 extinct in Europe, and was replaced by the Abietineae (Silver and 

 Spruce Firs, Larches and Cedars), which has assumed the lead of 

 the Cypresses. Nevertheless the Abietinese though in the first 

 rank of Conifers in the present day, is not nearly so numerous as it 

 was during tertiary times. 



The genus Araucaria (including under this name the genera 

 Colymbea and Eutacta), has entirely quitted the northern 

 hemisphere, where its first traces were seen in the Oolitic times. 

 It is now confined to the south. One species inhabits the 

 mountain ranges of Brazil ; a second extends southward of Chili to 

 Patagonia. There are only five other species known, and these 

 are confined to Australia and a few Pacific Islands close to 

 Australia. All the Araucarieae are distinguished by having the 



