Some Araucarian remains from the Atlantic coastal plain * 



Edward W. Berry 

 (with plates 11-16) 



The considerable theoretic importance recently assigned to the 

 Araucarieae by some authors, coupled with their abundance and 

 wide range during the Mesozoic and their restriction in modern 

 floras to the South American and Australian areas, renders them 

 a most interesting group of plants, as they are undoubtedly among 

 the most curious and striking in appearance. 



Figure i. Sketch map, showing the distribution of the Araucariae in the modern flora. 



The geographical distribution of the recent species is included 

 within the lined areas of figure I. The wide extension of the ori- 

 ental area is due chiefly to the genus Agathis, which is essentially 

 an island type, ranging from the Philippines to New Zealand. It 

 is to be noted that this genus does not occur in the Western Hem- 

 isphere, although during the Cretaceous rather closely allied 

 ancestral forms (Dammar a, Protodammara, and Davnnantcs) 



* Published by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey 



249 



