ete 
1910] YOUNG—PODOCARPINEAE 89 
16. The mature archegonium is very wide at the top and is 
covered by a membrane formed from the walls of the adjacent jacket 
cells. 
17. In fertilization the contents of the pollen tube pass through the 
neck, leaving it intact. 
18. Some male cytoplasm contributes to the embryo. 
19. There are at least eight free nuclei in the proembryo. 
20. The embryo has two cotyledons and a very long suspensor. 
21. Mesarch bundles occur in the cladodes. 
22. Taxinean sculpturing is found in the tracheids. 
23. No vascular strands enter the ovule; the ovular supply con- 
sists of two strands facing each other and ending in a tracheal plate 
below the integument. 
DISCUSSION 
The characters which point toward the affinity of Phyllocladus 
with the Taxineae are: (1) the structure of the ovule, (2) the sym- 
metrical arillus, (3) resemblances of the ovulate cone to that of 
Cephalotaxus, (4) mesarch bundles, and (5) taxinean sculpturing of 
tracheids. Characters indicating a relationship with the Podo- 
carpineae are: (1) the character of the male gametophyte, (2) the 
structure of the stamen, (3) winged pollen grains, (4) megaspore 
membrane and spongy tissue. 
The first point is perhaps the strongest argument for taxad affinity, 
as the erect, free, axillary ovule is characteristic of the whole group. 
This ovule, however, is a primitive type which we would expect to 
find at the base of any line. Though the progress of the podocarps 
has been toward inversion and fusion of parts, which finds its highest 
expression in Podocarpus itself, we find many relatively primitive 
stages represented. In Dacrydium, Saxegothaea, and Microcachrys 
the ovule is free from the scale and epimatium, except at the base, 
and in the various species of Dacrydium we find all positions from 
erect to completely inverted. The young ovule of Saxegothaea is in 
early stages perpendicular to the scale and becomes inverted only as 
the result of later growth. This, together with its position near the 
base of the scale, is suggestive of ancestors with erect, axillary ovules. 
The homology of the symmetrical arillus which originates from 
