162 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [serrEMBER 
coning freely, and am confident that no one who took advantage 
of a similar opportunity would still wish to unite the two genera, — 
Only two species of conifers occur native in the Cape Peninsula, 
and both are confined to the tops and upper slopes of the mountains; 
these are Podocarpus Thunbergii Hook. and Widdringtonia cupres- 
soides Endl. (3). The development of Podocarpus is fairly well 
known, having been studied in other species (COKER 6, BURLINGAME — 
4), but that of Widdringtonia (excluding Tetraclinis) is entirely 
unknown so far as I am aware. 
In attempting to work out the life-history the chief difficulty has 
been the collection of the material. The plant occurs only at an — 
altitude of about 2000 feet and upward, and it has always required 4 
at least four or five hours to obtain a single collection. F urther- 4 
more, a considerable portion of the cones contain only abortive 
ovules, especially in certain localities, and this has often made the 
collection of even a small number of ovules very tedious. As 4 
consequence it has only been possible to make collections at rather 
long intervals, and these have each only included a small number 
of ovules, particularly in the later stages. As these difficulties will aga 
be encountered in trying to fill in the gaps in the present account, 
it is thought best to publish the results now presented. Here and 
there comparisons are made with Callitris, the development of which 
is very similar. I hope later to be able to study this genus more 
in detail. 
I am glad to take this opportunity of thanking the authorities . 
Tokai for permission to collect cones of all species of Widdrington'4 
and Callitris grown in the Government Plantations, and also a 
friend Mr. E. P. Puriuips, for kindly collecting and fixing matet# 
on three occasions. 
METHODS 
The material has in almost all cases been fixed in the field, and 
all figures are drawn from such material. Various fixing = 
have been tried, including different strengths of chromaceti¢ 
with and without osmic acid, but the following has been foun 
most generally useful (CHAMBERLAIN 5, p. 20): picric acid (satue™” 4 
solution in 50 per cent. alcohol), roo°¢; glacial acetic acid, 5) 
