60 CONIFERAE. 



A detailed description of the fossil remains from the group of Cupres- 

 sineae, which are very common in the Tertiary formations, has been given 

 by Schenk \ The determination of the genera so far as this is based only 

 on leafy branches, though the result of closest comparison, is nevertheless 

 an uncertain affair, owing to the near affinity of the forms and the frequent 

 change in the foliation of different parts of the same plant. It is otherwise 

 where cones are to be had, for genera founded on these may be considered 

 to be sufficiently attested. The fossil remains of this group are of so little 

 interest to the botanist that a short notice of them will suffice ; nor have I, 

 like Schenk, the advantage of an extensive comparative study of the foliation 

 of recent forms, and am not in a position therefore adequately to criticise 

 his statements. Phyllostrobus Lorteti, Sap. 2 , from the Kimmeridge of Or- 

 bagnoux, should be the oldest cone-bearing form which certainly belongs 

 to this group. A small branch with four regular rows of leaves of dissimilar 

 form in the usual decussation bears a cone formed of two pairs of scales and 

 resembling the cone of Callitris or Libocedrus, but only moderately well- 

 preserved. The scales of the upper pair are larger than those of the lower. 

 Then we are acquainted with fossil cones, undoubtedly of the genus Wid- 

 dringtonia and in excellent preservation, belonging to the Miocene species 

 Widdringtonia helvetica, Heer 3 , W. antiqua, Sap. 4 , and W. brachyphylla, 

 Sap. 5 , also from the Tertiaries, and cones badly preserved indeed but still 

 probably rightly named of W. microcarpa, Sap. 6 from the Kimmeridge of 

 Armaille. Well-preserved cone-bearing remains of the genus Callitris are 

 also known from the Tertiary strata in the South of France, and will be 

 found figured in Saporta 7 . Starkic Gardner 8 very properly classes with 

 these some small cones from the London Clay of the Isle of Sheppey, which 

 have been described as Callitris curta and C. Ettingshauseni. The former 

 species had been already noticed by Bowerbank 9 under the name of Cu- 

 pressinites curtus. A single cone with three decussate pairs of scales is 

 referred by Saporta 10 to Thuiopsis. A cone-fragment with large unwinged 

 seeds from the Miocene of Greenland, named by Heer Biota borealis u , is 

 perhaps rightly placed. 



While it appears from the above account that the Jurassic system 

 supplies extremely few satisfactory cones of Cupressineae, it contains never- 

 theless a great abundance of leafy branches, which from the decussate 

 arrangement and characteristic position of the leaves may be placed in 

 this group, as we learn from a glance at the numerous species of Palaeo- 

 cyparis figured by Saporta 12 . Among the branches also of Coniferae from 



1 Zittel (1). a de Saporta (4), vol. iii, t. 221. 3 Heer (11). 4 de Saporta (6), t. 3, f. 3. 



5 de Saporta (5), t. 2, f. 6. de Saporta (4), vol. iii, t 219. 7 de Saporta (6), t. 3, f. 2 ; 



(7), t i, f. 3 ; (8), t. i, f. 6. Gardner (1) (1883), t. 9. Bowerbank (1). 10 de Saporta 

 (8), t. i, f. 5. 1! Zittel (1), p. 322. " de Saporta (4), vol. iii. 



