112 DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE 



be entirely absent as was once thought likely, but to be very 

 rare. Furthermore, the pith, which is so noticeable in the new 

 fossil, is Lari,v-l\ke in having no stone-cells. 



I incline to the view that the new fossil comes near to Lariv 

 in its affinity, but recognise that on the material available this 

 cannot be certain. Bailey (1909) points out the difficulty and 

 uncertainty in separating such closely allied genera as Picea, 

 Lari.Vj etc., by their woods alone, and instances the Californian 

 fossil wood identified by Gothan (1906) as Piceoaylcn Pstwfo- 

 tsugce which he places very near to, if not identical with, the 

 living Douglas fir. Bailey summarises Gothan's argument as 

 follows: "The fact that the resin-canals are typically non- 

 pine like, with thick-walled epithelium, shuts out Pinovylon. 

 The presence of wood-parenchyma and spirals in the spring 

 wood shows its relation to Pseudoteuya . Pseudotxiiga macro - 

 carpa has ray-tracheids with spirals, and in P. Dowjlasii they 

 are absent." Bailey's work on the distribution of these features 

 in recent plants forms the basis of his criticism of Gothan's 

 conclusion. He says : " In the first place, as we have seen, 

 Pseudotsnna Douglasii possesses spiral thickenings in the ray- 

 tracheids. This, according to the author's own line of reason- 

 ing, would exclude P. Douglasii. Further, let us consider tho 

 statements in regard to the presence of wood-parenchyma and 

 spiral thickenings in the spring wood. As has been shown 

 above, both these conditions occur in Picea sitchensis, a spruce 

 from the Pacific coast. Can we be sure whether this fossil is 

 more closely allied to Pseudotsuga, Picea, or even Lariv?" 



The very Lariat-like appearance of the cones of Pinites Solmsi 

 from the Wealden seems to support the view that a Lariv-like 

 wood may very well have been developed so early as the period 

 of the Lower Greensand. 



38353. Type-specimen. A small piece of petrified branch, now 

 3 cm. x 2 cm. and about 4 cm. long, and some small 

 pieces of the same from which sections have been cut ; 

 a second small piece, obviously of the same specimen, 

 w r as also cut into sections. Those labelled A are from 

 the piece remaining, those B are from the piece which 

 was entirely cut up. The petrified wood does not 

 show much on the outside, but within the black close- 



