360 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



and unlike the almost wingless seed of Cryptomeria, which was evidently 

 not, as Gardner thought, the only Conifer at Glenarm. 



Pollen-grains are frequent throughout the part of the core examined. 

 They are spherical, finely punctate, 25-31/x in diameter, and agree 

 with the fresh pollen-grains of S. gigantea. More than once bodies like 

 PI. XIV, fig 4, occur, indicating a pollen mother cell in course of division. 

 They may or may not belong to Sequoia. The branching shoot shown in 

 PL XIV, fig. 5, is interesting, but, without breaking it up, it is difficult to 

 decide as to the nature of the two swollen terminal buds. They may be 

 scaly foliage buds, male flowers, or even young cones. No signs of pollen- 

 grains were obtained by examination of the restored counterpart. Cones, 

 however, occur, as well as isolated seeds, and we had the good fortune to 

 find one cone split open — borne on a shoot carrying true *S'. Coiittsiae leaves 

 (PI. XLV, figs. 6-7)— in such a way as to show its structure as clearly as if it 

 were a median section of a fresh cone. Several seed-bearing scales are 

 exposed. Seeds (PI. XIV, figs. 7-lOj are observable on the upper surface of 

 each scale, overlapping one another, being inverted or pendulous, 3'5 mm. 

 long, 27 mm. broad at the base. Each seed shows a central somewhat 

 curved " nucleus," with two fairly broad lateral wings. The seed is 

 pointed or apiculate at its lower or micropylar end, broader and emargi- 

 nate at its upper basal attached end. The hilum as a disc-like scar is 

 clearly observable. The seeds are attached at the distal end of the ovuli- 

 ferous or bract scale. A casual inspection of Sargent's figures of the seed 

 scales in the two living Sequoia will suffice to show a marked difference 

 in the arrangement of the seeds in the two. It is worthy of note that 

 S. CouUsiae agrees with S. semper virens, and not with S. gigantea, in the size 

 and structure of its cone and arrangement of its seeds. The main (adpressed) 

 type of foliage of S. Couttsiae is strictly localized in S. sempervirens, and only 

 here and there observable in jS. gigantea ; otherwise it is buried in the past. 

 It may be added that the cone of S. sempervirens ripens in one season, but, 

 according to "Sargent, that of S. gigantea ripens in the second season, as in 

 Pimts and other Abietineae. 



There is a certain amount of lignite in the core, and some of our prepara- 

 tions show typical Conifer tracheides, with a single row of bordered pits 

 (PI. XIV, fig. 10) on their radial walls, much as in recent Sequoia wood. We 

 hope to make a more thorough examination of the lignite later. As Sequoia 

 and Taxodium are usually associated with lignite deposits, a second boring 

 might reveal larger deposits of lignite, giving a fuel capable of utilization in 

 the baking of the enormous thickness of clay which makes, we understand, a 

 satisfactory, though coarse, kind of pottery. 



