Ciqii'essino.vijlon Hooker i, from Tasmania. 



9 



■removal of the bark, separate into the ultimate fibres of which it 

 is composed, forming an amianthus-like mass on the ventricle of 

 the stump in one place, and covering the ground with a white 

 powder, commonly called here native pounce. The examination of 

 u single concentric layer from this part shows that it may be 

 detached from the contiguous layers of the preceding and following 

 years' growth ; there being no silicious matter infiltrated into the 

 •intervening spaces. A portion of each layer is found to have 

 •a second cleavage, not concentric with it, but in the direction of 

 its radius, or of a line drawn from the centre to the bark of the 

 tree. Such a cleavage is to be expected from the fact, that it is 

 in the direction of the medullary rays that traverse every where 

 the woody tissue. Each of these laminte is of extreme tenuity, of 

 indeterminate length, and of the breadth of the layers of wood ; 

 and is formed of a single series of parallel woody fibres, crossed 

 here and there by the cellular tissue of the medullary rays, which 

 do not generally interfere with their regularity. These plates, 

 again, are separable into single minute fibres, which are elongated 

 tubes of pleurencbyma or woody tissue, tapering at either end into 

 conical terminations of indefinite length. They lie together in such 

 •close approximation that the microscope does not detect an interstice, 

 though the least force separates them." 



Fig. 1. — Cuprcssinoxijlon hooJccri, sp. uov. Transverse section, x 100. 



Sir Joseph Hooker concluded that the tree was undoubtedly 

 Coniferous, as could be ascertained by a microscopic examination 

 ■of the isolated fibres, without the preparation of sections. It may 

 be interesting in these days, when microscopic sections are a constant 

 necessity to those who are working on the subject of fossil plants, 

 and readily obtained at a cost of a few shillings, to quote afurther 

 sentence of Sir Joseph Hooker's description, as illustrating the 



