38 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



In this connection, however, it is to be recalled that certain species 

 of Glyptostrobus (G. horsfieldii) have been referred to Podocarpus, 

 while the genus as a whole was transferred to Taxodium by Bentham 

 and Kooker, and this relation is recognized in the Index Kewensis. 

 The most recent revision, however, as given by Eiohler in Engler & 

 Prantl, still gives Glyptostrobus a distinct status as a valid genus 

 within the Taxodieae, whereby it is definitely separated from all rela- 

 tionship with Podocarpus. From this it would appear that the ques- 

 tion now resolves itself into a choice between Podocarpus on the one 

 hand and Taxodium or Glyptostrobus on the other. 



An analysis of the characteristics of the woody structure of the 

 common Bald Cypress has already been given, and the close similarity 

 of the fossil has been noted. According to the usual diagnoses for 

 the leaves, these organs are " alternate, spirally disposed, sessile, nar- 

 rowly linear, acute; those of the flowering branches smaller scalelike."^ 

 Schimper's diagnosis for fossil representatives of the genus reads 

 " Folia disticha, complanato-patentia, linearia, basi angustata," while 

 for the species T. distichum miocenum we have the somewhat addi- 

 tional characters "basi angustatis, breviterque petiolatis."- These char- 

 acters uniformly constitute the basis for the recognition of fossil species, 

 and they are quite distinct in certain particulars from those which are 

 commonly held to pertain to Glyptostrobus. 



Although not recorded in his list of plants from the Porcupine 

 Creek and Great Valley, I neverthelesa find in the Museum collection 

 some badly preserved specimens of leaves of an undesignated species 

 'of Taxodium which are described as collected by Dr. G. M. Dawson 

 during the progress of the B. N". A. Boundary Commission Survey in 

 1873-74, from the Upper Laramie of Porcupine Creek. A very careful 

 examination of these specimens shows that they cannot be distinguished 

 from other Tertiary specimens which are labelled Taxodium distichum. 

 These latter were derived from three separate localities. 



Several other specimens of Taxodium are also in the Museum col- 

 'lection. One lot is from the Upper Laramie of the North Saskatchewan,, 

 and was collected by Mr. Tyrrell in 1886. A second lot was obtained 

 from the Lignite Tertiary of the Souris River by Dr. Selwyn in 1880,. 

 while the third lot was found in the Miocene of the Similkameen 

 River, B.C. In all these cases the plant is represented by the foliage 

 which is most beautifully preserved, and it therefore readily admits 

 of a verification of the statement which the name implies, that the 

 specimens cannot be differentiated from the existing Taxodium dis- 

 tichum to which they have been correctly referred. 



' Britton, 111. Flor. N. U. S. & Can. 

 =* Pal. Vég-., IL, 322, 323. 



