232 DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE 



of the end-walls are well enough preserved to make this clear. 

 The cells appear all alike, and their vertical height about equals 

 the diameter of the tracheids they cross (text-fig. 66). The 

 pits in the radial walls are very large oval pits, lying obliquely 

 one in each tracheid- field. In a few cases a couple of pits lie 

 together, but the great majority have the single large pit 

 (text-fig. 66, TW.). The end-walls of the ray-cells are unfortu- 

 nately not preserved in radial section. 



AFFINITIES. I do not kuow of any described species of 

 1'odocarpo.rylon with which this can directly be compared. The 

 few species of the genus which have been described do not show 

 their piths and protoxylems (with the exception of P. Schwenda^ 

 in which the pith is preserved), nor in their wood-structure are 

 any of them so sharply differentiated as to be conclusively 

 comparable with the present fossil. The antarctic wood described 

 by Gothan (1908 A) as PhyUocladoxylon (mtarcticum has largo 

 single pits per tracheid-field rather rounder, but otherwise very 

 similar to the pits in our fossil. Judging from his illustrations 

 alone, the preservation of his fossil does not seem to be very 

 good, and it is possible that the large pits are somewhat eaten 

 out, as their limits are not well defined. In his specimen xylem- 

 parenchyma is said to be absent. Furthermore, his specimen 

 is Tertiary, and these various differences make it unlikely that 

 we aro dealing with the same species, though possibly the two 

 fossils may represent closely allied species. Reasons for not 

 using Goth an 's generic name Phyftodadoxylon are given on p. 210, 

 and apply even more strongly to the use of the generic name of 

 the living Phyllocladus for fossil woods. A Pliocene fossil is 

 described and figured by Schenk (1890 A, fig. 424) under the 

 name Phyllodadus Mullcri, in which the ray-pitting is almost 

 the same as that in the new Knglish fossil. This specimen, 

 however, is of very recent date, and being from the Southern 

 Hemisphere (New Zealand), in which Pliyll cladus is still native, 

 his identification may be justifiable. 



Gothan (1907) describes a wood from Ko'nig Karl's Land as 

 PhyWocladoxylon sp. The medullary rays and their pitting, 

 however, do not appear to be sharply preserved. It has no 

 xylem-parenchyma. If Gothan's identification is correct, and if 

 his wood is really of Jurassic age, his specimen is possibly in 

 direct ancestral relationship with our Lower Grrnisand form. 



