248 



ARATJCARINEAE 



[CH. 



Velenovsky under a single type which he calls Krannera mirabilis 1 

 from a name suggested by Corda: additional examples superior 

 in preservation to those previously figured are illustrated in 

 Velenovsky's memoir on the Bohemian Cretaceous Gymnosperms. 

 Velenovsky regards the supposed cones as stems bearing crowded 

 woody scales which originally had long Cordaites-like leaves at- 

 tached to a transverse ridge just internal to the thickened distal 

 ends: there appears to be no absolute proof in support of this 

 connexion between scales and foliage-leaves, but one specimen 

 figured shows portions of leaf-like organs attached to two of the 

 scales, though these may be petiolar and not pieces of laminae. 

 Reference is made elsewhere to the Krannera leaves. It is probable 

 that, as Velenovsky believes, the supposed cones are stems similar 

 to tuberous Cycadean species but it is doubtful if they were pro- 

 vided with leaves of the type included in Krannera mirabilis. 



* *- 



Schmalhausen 2 figures a Tertiary cone from Russia as Dammara 

 Armaschewskii which in the form of the distal ends of the scales 

 resembles Araucaria brasiliensis and species of Pinus, but some 

 detached scales agree closely in shape and in the possession of a 

 single seed with those of Agathis. Small detached cone-scales 

 of Tertiary age, described by Schmalhausen 3 as Dammara Tolli 

 from the New Siberian Islands, 

 (fig. 732), may be allied to Agathis ; 

 they agree generally with those of 

 D. borealis and other western types. 

 It is, however, from detached cone- 

 scales obtained from Cretaceous 

 strata in Greenland and some 

 European localities but especially 



from the Eastern United States that the most promising in- 

 formation has been gained. Hitchcock first recorded these scales 

 from Martha's Vineyard and spoke of them as 'seed-vessels' of 

 some Coniferous plants 4 , but it was Heer 5 who compared them 

 with the cone-scales of Agathis. The latter author described 

 several examples from Cenomanian strata in West Greenland as 

 Dammara borealis, D. microlepis, etc. 



1 Velenovsky (85) B. p. 1, PJs. i., iv. 2 Schmalhausen (83) p. 313, PI. xxxvi. 

 3 Ibid. (90) p. U, PL i. fig. 19. 4 Rollick (06) p. 38. 5 Heer (82). 



FIG. 732. Dammarites Tolli. (After 

 Schmalhausen; nat. size.) 



