320 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



sandstone, bestrew the surface iu the neighbourhood so thickly 

 that one might imagine a forest to have been felled on the spot 

 and subsequently petrified." 



It is interesting to notice that these coniferous tree-remains are 

 not confined to tlie freshwater (upper) series of the Bowen River 

 Coal Field, but that they are also found in the marine (middle) 

 series. 



Apaucanioxylon daintreei, sp. nov, (Plate XXVIIL, 

 Figs. 1-3; Plate XXIX., Figs. 1-3; Plate XXX., Figs. 3-4). 



C/iie/ Characters. — -Stem sub-elliptical in section in the present 

 example. The broken, transverse surface shows very clearly the 

 succession of rings of the wood cells (annual rings). Area of 

 pith cells very restricted, the bundle measuring in this specimen 

 1.7 mm. in diameter. The pith bundle is not circular in 

 transverse section but somewhat elongated in one direction, and 

 angular on the periphery. The parenchymatous cells of which it 

 is composed are rectangular to polygonal in transverse section. 

 They are made out with difiiculty in this direction on account of 

 their absorption of .so much iron oxide along with their silicifi- 

 cation. The primary xyleni appears to consist of four or five 

 rows of tracheides, wliich show traces of scalariform and spiral 

 structure in the sections taken through the stem in a radial direc- 

 tion. 



The tracheides of the secondary wood are sub-rectangular in 

 transverse section, and run in series of 4 to 6 between the 

 medullary rays in plane section. No resin cells were noticed. 



The radial section shows the pith cylinder to be immediately 

 followed by the short series of scalariform and spiral elements 

 mentioned above, and succeeded by the secondary xylem. The 

 ordinary prosenchymatous ves.sels forming the wood have their 

 radial surfaces crowded with bordered pits, showing the central 

 mark as an oblique, elliptical, slit-like depression, and similar 

 to those in both the Araucariae and the Cordaiteae. The pits are 

 closely adpressed, but generally not so clo.se as to become poly- 

 gonal ; they occur sometimes in single rows, but more often in as 

 many as 4 to 6. 



