XLIV] CUPRESSINOXYLON 195 



and Abies (cf. fig. 690, B, p. 130). The absence of Abietineous 

 pitting in the ray cells, the distribution of the canals, and the 

 presence of scattered rows of xylem-parenchyma are features 

 indicating affinity to Sequoia sempervirens. The preservation is 

 not sufficiently good to warrant any definite statement with regard 

 to the pits on the radial walls of the ray cells : the absence of a 

 border is in contrast to the pits in Sequoia, but the apparent lack 

 of a border may be due to imperfect preservation or to decay. 

 Miss Holden, who carefully examined the sections, called my atten- 

 tion to the occasional occurrence of obscure and narrow cells oi" 

 unequal breadth on the edge of some medullary rays bearing a 

 resemblance to the ghost-like ray-tracheids described by Thomp- 

 son 1 . 



Cupressinoxylon Koettlitzi sp. nov. 



Silicified wood is by no means uncommon in the Franz Josef 

 Archipelago and several specimens have been found in talus-heaps 

 and in basaltic lavas. The age may be Upper Jurassic, Cretaceous, 

 or possibly Tertiary. A radial longitudinal section of a piece of 

 wood is figured, though not named, by Newton and Teall 2 and 

 without a full description. The following account is based on 

 sections cut from the same block in the possession of the Geological 

 Survey, which was collected at Northbrook Island by members of 

 the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition. The species is named after 

 Dr Koettlitz, the geologist of the Expedition 3 . Annual rings 

 narrow and distinct: there are no resin-canals and no clearly 

 preserved xylem-parenchyma, though in a few places there are 

 indications of what appear to be elongated cells containing a dark 

 substance. It is noteworthy that in some recent Cupressineae resin- 

 parenchyma is not invariably present. The bordered pits on the 

 radial walls of the tracheids are variable in their arrangement; 

 they occur in single rows (fig. 718, E), contiguous and sometimes 

 slightly flattened or more or less widely scattered, also in double 

 rows with an opposite or occasionally an alternate disposition. 

 There are a few pits on the tangential walls of the tracheids and rims 

 of Sanio are seen in places on the radial faces. The medullary 

 rays are 1 25 cells deep, uniseriate and very rarely two-cells 



1 Thompson (12). 



2 Newton and Teall (97) p. 508, PI. XLT. fig. 11. 3 Koettlitz (98). 



132 



