492 . BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JUNE 
clearly recognizable as such, they are about the size of an English 
walnut. They are now distinguishable from a leaf bud by their 
shape, by their lighter color, and by the more numerous and 
-slenderer leaflike sporophylls. Pollination occurs at this stage. 
In 4 months they have reached the stage shown in text fig. 2. 
They are then 6-7 cm. long and about 5 cm. in diameter. The 
Fic. 2.—Cones of three different seasons, photographed in August: the smallest 
cone is 4 months old; the large cone is 16 months old; the cone axis with a few scales 
at base, 28 months old; the last shed its seeds in the preceding December and the 
largest cone would have shed seeds in the following December; X ;°:. 
cone is rough and prickly from the turned-back tips of the sporo- 
phylls. The seeds are shed the fall or winter of the next year, when 
the cone has reached a length of 12-18 cm. and has shed many of 
its prickles. The life of an ovulate cone is thus somewhat less 
than two years. This is about a year less than that reported for 
Agathis (3), and also less than that of most conifers. There are 
usually 400-500 sporophylls on a cone (text fig. 2). They are 
arranged in steep spirals, making rather more than 1.5 complete 
turns. 
