262 



Hallk has compaicd bis two specics of Sciadopitijtes wilh Scia- 

 dopitijs verticillata, l)ut he docs not considcr it (jiiite certain that 

 the fossil forms are closely rclated to the recent genus. 



Concerning the genus Sciadopitijtes of Hallk Skward says in his 

 boolv "Fossil Plants" (Vol. IV): "These two species, though exhibit- 

 ing some similarity to Sciadopitijs, can hardly be assumed to be- 

 long to plants more closely allied to the recent Japanese Conifer 

 than to other existing forms". Gothan (1921), however, seems to 

 consider a nearer relation to Sciadopitijs to be very probable. 



Johansson (1920) has described two new mesozoic species of 

 Sciadopitijtes found on Andö in northern Norway. 



Finally, the species of Menzel, Sciadopitijs tertiaria, was recently 

 discovered also in the upper pliocene flora of Klärbecken (Frank- 

 fort) and in the upper miocene flora of Kokoschiitz in Silesia 

 (Florin 1922). — 



That Sciadojntys is an old type of conifers I consider highly 

 probable. The recent geographic distribution of the genus points 

 in that direction. Sciadopitijs verticillata is endemic to Japan. 

 It occurs in the highlands of Hondo and is confined to the zone 

 of Cryptomeria and Ciipressineae (Patschke). Hoping to get an 

 opportunity to throw some light on the geological history of Scia- 

 dopitijs I have searched systematically through several paleobota- 

 nical collcctions of Europé. Most of my material belongs to the 

 paleobotanical department of the State Museum of Natural History 

 at Stockholm, the curator of which, Prof. Dr. T. G. Halle, has 

 shown the greatest interest in my investigations and promoted 

 them in the most liberal manner. Further I am gratefully indebt- 

 ed to Prof. Dr. W. Gothan in the paleobotanical department of 

 the Geological Survey of Prussia in Berlin as well as to Dr. R. ■ 

 Kräusel in the Senckenberg Museum, F^rankfort (Germany), for 

 very valuable material of a tertiary species of Sciadopitijs. 



My notes on the geological history of the Sciadojntineae in the 

 present paper ought to be regarded as preliminary. I hope to get 

 an opportunity to complete my material in the near future. In 

 this connection I shall only give some short notes on the species 

 hitherto recognized. 



The diagnosis of Halle for the genus Sciadopitijtes I propose to 

 modify in the following way: 



L i n e a r " 1 e a v e s " of C o n i f e r- 1 i k e habit, w i t h a 

 m e d i a n f u r r o w or g r o o v e w h o s e e p i d e r m a 1 tis- 



