342 BERRY: NOTES ON THE GENUS WIDDRINGTONITES 
equivocal identification but this is far from being the case in most 
instances. I did not start, however, to write a plea for paleo- 
botanists, but with the purpose of describing some rather excep- 
tional coniferous materia! from the Upper Cretaceous of this 
country, which serves to substantiate a generic determination 
made years ago by that most sagacious and illustrious of paleo- 
botanists, the late Professor Oswald Heer. 
The genus Widdringtonites was established in 1847 by End- 
licher* with Thuites gramineus Sternberg from the Tertiary of 
Perutz, Bohemia, as the type. This he named Widdringtonites 
Ungeri, including in its synonymy Juniperites baccifera Unger, 
Thuia graminea Brongniart, and Muscites Stolzii Sternberg. 
Three additional species were listed, one from the Cretaceous, one 
from the Wealden, and one from the Lias. His characterization 
of the genus was as follows: ‘‘Folia spiraliter inserta, pleraque 
squamaeformia adpressa. Strobilus globosus, valvatus.” 
There are perhaps a score of species, ranging in age from the 
Triassic to the Miocene, that are referred to this genus at the 
present time. It has been commonly used for foliar specimens 
that resembled the living forms but lacked the certainty furnished 
by associated cones. These are known, however, in a large 
number of species, many of which, especially those of Tertiary 
age, are now often referred directly to the genus Widdringion® 
Named originally for its resemblance to the living speci® F 
Widdringtonia of southern Africa and Madagascar, it is t be 
noted that in the latest treatment of the modern Cupressineae, “4 
Eichler in Engler and Prantl’s Die Natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien 
(1889), Widdringtonia is made a subgenus of Callitris Ventenat 
the latter being divided into four subgenera as follows: Octoclins 
F. v. Miiller (Frenela Bentham) with eight scales to the cone ge 
single species inhabiting Australia; Hexaclinis (Frenela Mir i 
with six scales to the cone, 3 large and 3 small, and. nine spe ; 
of Australia and New Caledonia; Pachylepis Brongniart yi 
tonia Endlicher) with thick woody cones of four subequal S@ 
and having three or four species of South Africa and Me 
Eucallitris Brongniart (Tetraclinis) with four scales to the 0° 
and a single species of northern Africa. aa 
* Endlicher, Synopsis Coniferarum 271. 1847. 
