

XLIXj TORREYITES 421 



T. parvifolia, from the Lower Cretaceous beds of Greenland: the 

 leaves of the former exhibit a close agreement with those of the 

 recent species though the evidence in support of generic identity 

 is far from decisive. The second species differs in the smaller 

 leaves: an examination of one of the figured specimens in the 

 Stockholm Museum led me to the conclusion that it may be identical 

 with an Upper Jurassic form from Scotland described as Taxites 

 Jeffreyi 1 : there are no adequate grounds for the use of the name 

 Torreya. Fontaine's Potomac species Torreya virginica 2 is founded 

 on a piece of shoot bearing long linear leaves with no obvious 

 midrib but with two strong lines between the middle and the edges 

 of the lamina which suggest stomatal grooves. This specimen is 

 of less value than the type-specimen of Torreyites carolinianus 

 because of the lack of information with regard to the stomata. 

 A second species of very little botanical value is described from 

 the same formation as Torreya falcata 3 . Yokoyama's Upper 

 Jurassic or Wealden species Torreya venusta* from Japan has no 

 claim to be included among records of Torreya. 



The Miocene species from Greenland, Torreya borealis, described 

 by Heer 5 is founded on sterile twigs with broad linear leaves which 

 afford no definite indication of relationship to the recent genus. 

 Some fragments from Pliocene beds near Lyon described by Saporta 

 and Marion 6 as Torreya nucifera var. brevifolia show two stomatal 

 grooves and may be correctly identified. These authors regard 

 the specimens described by Ettingshausen from Bilin in Bohemia 

 as Sequoia Langsdorfii as fragments of a Torreya and re-name the 

 species T. bilinica. 



Some detached leaves and seeds from Upper Pliocene beds in 

 he Main Valley (Frankfurt) are referred by Engelhardt and 

 Kinkelin 7 to Torreya nucifera fossilis: the seeds bear a close 

 resemblance to those of the existing species. While there is fairly 

 good evidence from Tertiary localities of the comparatively recent 

 occurrence of Torreya in Europe the records cannot be regarded 

 as conclusive. 



1 Seward (II 2 ) p. 688. 2 Fontaine (89) B. p. 234, PL cix. fig. 8. 



3 Ibid. p. 235, PL cxra. fig. 4. 4 Yokoyama (89) p. 230, PL xxn. figs. 11, 12. 



5 Heer (83) p. 56, PL LXX, fig. la. 



G Saporta and Marion (76) p. 87, PL xxn. figs. 6, 7. 



7 Engelhardt and Kinkelin (08) p. 191, PL xxm. figs. 68. 



