4 NOTE OX A FOSSIL WOOD FROM MOUXT ASTROLABE. 



hnt this is not the case. The wood-cells produced in spring are' 

 larjier and have thinner walls than those produced in autumn, 

 and this makes visihle the line of junction of the woods of 

 difi'erent seasons when viewed in a transverse section. 



Althovigh the wood of C'onifer;e is devoid of vessels, it may 

 contain resin canals, each surrounded by a layer of thin-walled 

 secreting cells. 



It is not possible to determine to what genus of plants a- 

 fossil coniferous wood belongs. For paheontological purposes. 

 all fossil woods of this family are divided into five sections. The 

 first includes the allies of the btinya and Norfolk pine ; the- 

 second the allies of the cypress and the connnon pine ; the third 

 the firs, larches, and their relations ; the fourth the cedars ; the- 

 fifth the yews. The first are distinguished by the arrangement. 

 of the bordered pits, which form oblique lines on each cell. Ini 

 the other classes, except the fifth, the pits form horizontal rows.. 

 The second class is distinguished by its resin cells, the third by 

 the possession of resin cells and resin canals, and the fifth by the^ 

 spiral strengthening fibres in each cell. 



The New Guinea fossil shows the presence of numerous resin 

 canals, and therefore belongs to the third class, known to geolo- 

 gists as the Pityoxylon or pine-wood family. From its resem- 

 blance to a fossil larch figured by Renault in plate LS, fig. 10,. 

 Qnatriome Annee, it has been called Pityoxylon PaUeolarix, 

 Shi, -Jen. 



For the photographs in illustration of the description I am 

 indebted to Dr. John Thomson, of P»risbane. The drawings on 

 stone Avere made by Mr. F. J. Elliot. 



J'itil(i.ri/I(i)i Pdldiilariv (n. sp.). — Annual zones- indistinct ; 

 tracheides thick-walled ; marked by 1-4 rows of round bordered 

 pits, in parallel, horizontal rows : resin canals numerous, large, 

 with special cellular lining tissue, in transverse section oval or- 

 circular, when oval with line joining the poles parallel to the^ 

 medullary rays. 



Habitat: Mount Astrolabe, New Cuinea; Sir W. Macgregor,, 

 M.D., K.C.M.G. 



