64 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



Macloskie (13) contributed an interesting paper in 1872, in which he gave for 

 the first time a rough illustration of the wood. Seward (19) gives better illustra- 

 tions of a Lough Neagh wood as Cupressiuoxylon sp. Two slides in the Geological 

 Laboratory of this College, labelled Gupressinoxylon Pritchardi Kraus, from Sandy 

 Bay, show a wood which has the usual features of Taxodioxylon, and one resin 

 passage or duct (PI. Ill, fig. 12) at the end of the summer wood. This feature is 

 of diagnostic importance, as Sequoia normally possesses resin cells only ; but when 

 injured, traumatic resin passages or cysts are found in the autumn wood in 

 S. sem2xrvirens, according to Krausel, in the spring wood according to Penhallow 

 {op. cit., p. 224). It would therefore appear, if these two preparations are correctly 

 named, that C. Pritchardi Kraus may be nearly allied to, if not identical with, 

 Taxodioxylon Sequoianum Gothan, and also with the lignite of the bore at 

 Washing Bay. 



Unfortunately, the diagnosis of Unger, repeated by Goeppert and later writers, 

 is now inadequate, and the type material needs re-examination and description in 

 the light of present-day views. Our 1721 specimen shows occasionally three rows 

 of bordered pits in the radial walls of the tracheids, and cannot very well be, as 

 Gardner (5) assumes is the case for Lough Neagh lignite, the wood of a Cupressus, 

 which is distinguished by its mostly single row of bordered pits. 



We are at present examining microscopically lignite material from various 

 localities in Ireland, and need hardly say that we find it is not of uniform character. 

 We may expect to find as lignite examples of all the Conifers recorded in the Irish 

 Tertiary. 



It needs little imagination to picture the presence of forests of Sequoia in 

 N. Ireland, possibly contemporaneous with those in S. Devon at Bovey Tracey, 

 the shores of the Baltic, the Rhine valley, Saxony, Silesia, and S. France. We may 

 yet find in Ireland large deposits of lignite or browrr coal of economic value like 

 those abroad. 



Among Cupressinoxylons the occurrence of 3-4 bordered pits on the radial 

 walls of the tracheids is irot common. 



A comparative list of species which are like the Washing Bay lignite in many 

 respects is shown in the table, pp. 62 and 63. 



Plate III. 

 Figs. 



I, 2. Transverse section of stem (1002 W. 1). x 50. 



(1002 W. 2). X 50. 

 3-6. Eadial walls of tracheids showing bordered pits, x 50. 



6. Shows four opposite pits on the wall of the traclieid (869' 6" W. 7). 



7. Tangential section showing pits on tangential walls of tracheids, smooth 



cross walls of resin parenchyma, and balls of resin in the cells 

 (1005 W. 1). X 250. 



8, 9. 10. Pits of medullary rays, apparently simple, x 250. 



II. Pits of medullary rays with border (712'). x 250. 



12. Transverse section of Cupressiuoxylon Pritchardi Kraus, showing resin 

 duct or cyst. 



