THTJITES. 209 



Genus THUITES, Brongniart. 



[Tableau, 1849, p. 71.] 



Thuites valdensis, sp. nov. 



[PL XX. Fig. 6.] 



Type. Single specimen of a leafy twig. British Museum. 



Although it is impossible to give a complete or entirely satis- 

 factory definition of this species from the single specimen in the 

 Eufford Collection, it may be convenient to adopt a new specific 

 term, as there seems to be little doubt that we have to do 

 with fragments of a conifer different from any known species. 

 The characters may be summarized as follows : 



Branching opposite, leaves in whorls, adpressed to the stem, 

 two in each whorl, keeled dorsally and with comparatively 

 blunt apices. 



Some of the specimens referred by Ettingshausen to Frenelopsis 

 Hoheneggeri (Ett.), and, in a less degree, a few of those figured 

 by Schenk under Ettingshausen's specific name, show a distinct 

 resemblance to the present specimen. 



V. 2138. PL XX. Fig. 6. 



Preservation good. The leaves and opposite branching are 

 clearly seen. Cf. Frenelopsis ramosissima, Font., Potomac Flora, 

 pi. xcv., 1 etc., also F. Hoheneggeri (Ett.). 2 In describing the 

 specimens subsequently referred by Schenk to the genus Frene- 

 lopsis, Ettingshausen adopts the generic name Thuites in the 

 wide sense, as including various forms of Cupressineee ; it would 

 probably be wiser to retain Thuites for such examples as those 

 figured by Ettingshausen. In instituting the species T. Hohen- 

 eggeri, Ettingshausen speaks of the branching as alternate, and 

 the leaves as " quadrifariam imbricatis " ; but the specimen 

 shown in his pi. i. fig. 7 has clearly only two leaves in some 

 of the verticils ; indeed, there is a striking similarity between 

 this German specimen and the single example from the English 



1 Fontaine (A. 2), Potomac Flora. 



2 Ettingshauseu (A. 4), Abh. k.-k. geol. Keichs. vol. i. Abth. iii. 1852, pi. i. 

 figs. 6 and 7. 



