PINITES. 193 



Genus PINITES, Endlicher. 

 [Synopsis Coniferarum, 1847, p. 283.] 



In dealing with detached and imperfect cones, in which the 

 scales have a flattened form like those of Abies and certain 

 species of Pinus, it is difficult, or indeed impossible, to arrive at 

 a very accurate generic determination. The use of Endlicher' s 

 genus in a wide sense is, therefore, a matter of convenience, and 

 in most cases preferable to the application of the generic name of 

 Pinus to detached cones which cannot be referred with absolute 

 confidence to a narrowly defined recent genus. 



Endlicher defines this genus as follows : 



"Folia, amenta staminigera et strobili, diversis Pinuum speciebus 

 similes." The term is a convenient one to adopt, if we do not 

 confine its use within the limits of the genus Pinus as defined in 

 modern systematic works. 



Several detached cones have been described by Carruthers, 

 Gardner, and others from the Wealden rocks of England, under 

 the generic name Pinites. Their general character justifies the 

 choice of this genus, but an examination of several of the type 

 specimens lends no support to the existence of so many distinct 

 species as have been described. In the second report of the 

 Committee appointed for the purpose of reporting on the fossil 

 plants of the Tertiary and Secondary beds of the United Kingdom, 

 Starkie Gardner figures and describes the following new species : 

 Pinites valdensis, P. Carruthersi, P. cylindroides, and P. Pottoni- 

 ensisj from the "Wealdeu rocks of the Isle of "Wight and the 

 Lower Greensand of Potton. The Potton specimens are pi-o- 

 bably of Wealden age. In the case of Pinites cylindroides, from 

 Potton, Gardner describes the solitary specimen as being " in 

 excellent condition, certainly not derived from any older bed." 

 An inspection of the type specimen in the Woodwardian 

 Museum, Cambridge, leads me to unhesitatingly describe it as 

 distinctly worn and rolled, and imperfectly preserved. The figure 

 does not convey a very accurate idea of the actual fossil ; the scales 

 are very imperfect, and their half-moon form spoken of by the 

 author of the species, is almost certainly due to wearing, and 

 cannot, I believe, be accepted as an original character. 



o 



