216 BRACHrPHYLLUM. 



This form of Bracliypliyllum does not appear to have been 

 hitherto recorded from rocks of Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous 

 age, unless we may refer to this species some of the small twigs 

 described by Saporta, Heer, Fontaine, and others from Wealden 

 strata. The spinous branches and general habit of B. spinosum 

 distinguish it from previously figured examples with similar leaves 

 and leaf cushions. Yelenovsky * figures some specimens from 

 the Perucer beds of Bohemia under the name of JEchinostrobua 

 squamosus, Vel. : these have similar leaves to those of B. spinosum ; 

 but coniferous branches with this form of leaf are too abundant in 

 Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks to admit of any strict comparison. 

 Bracliypliyllum crassicaule, Font., 2 B. obesum, Heer, 3 and others 

 may be referred to as similar in leaf form to the present species. 

 Among the numerous conifers figured by Saporta from Jurassic 

 strata, we have such species as B. nepos, Sap., 4 and B. Desnoyersii 5 

 (Brong.), and other forms which resemble the Wealden species in 

 a greater or less degree. We may compare also PagiopJtyllum 

 cirinicum, 6 Sap. Possibly the latter genus might be a suitable 

 designation for the English specimens, but the distinction between 

 Bracliypliyllum and Pagiopliyllum is in many cases by no means 

 well marked, and neither term is more than a convenient generic 

 name which does not imply any precise botanical affinity. 



V. 2746. PL XVII. Fig. 1. 



The main axis of this large specimen has a breadth of 2 cm., 

 and is covered with polygonal areas representing the impressions 

 of large scale leaves, very similar to those in thicker branches of 

 species of Athrotaxis, Thujopsis, etc., among recent genera. These 

 are the remains of short and broad leaves preserved in the form 

 of carbonaceous impressions on the matrix, immediately in contact 

 with the thick axis. The two lowest branches are 4cm. apart; 

 their surface markings are identical with those on the main branch ; 

 from each of the lateral branches there are given off short tapered 

 stiff branches covered with similar leaf impressions. Each of 



1 (A. 1) Gym. bohm. Kreid. p. 16, pi. vi. figs. 3, 6, 7, 8. 



2 Potomac Flora, p. 221, pi. 100, fig. 4, pi. cix. etc. 



3 Heer (A. 6), Secc. Trab. Geol. Portugal, 1881, p. 20, pi. xvii. figs. 1-4. 



4 Pal. Franc;, vol. iii. p. 356, pi. clxviii. etc. 



5 Ibid. p. 331, pi. clxiii. etc. 



6 Ibid. p. 402, pi. clxxx. etc. 



