412 Systematic Paleontology 



a short and wide lunbo almost s-ufficiently developed to suggest the genus 

 Sequoia, but due entirely to the pressure and the movement of the matrix 

 in a direction toward the base of the cone as can be readily seen by the 

 intermediate scales. 



Scales in a close spiral, imbricated, rather thin, perhaps, .5 mm. in 

 thickness, strongly striated longitudinally, very broad, the distance around 

 the cone being occupied by slightly over 3 scales ; and, as the circumference 

 of the fossil is 5.7 cm. it would make each fully developed scale about 

 1.7 cm. in width, broadly rounded apically and apparently slightly 

 thicker at the tip than elsewhere, exposed for a height of about 3 mm. 



This species is based upon a single specimen, which is so admirably 

 preserved, however, that in a footnote to the original description Profes- 

 sor Ward raises the question whether it may not be a Pleistocene cone 

 of Ahies or Picea, preserved in some Quaternary pocket of the Potomac 

 surface. Mr. Bibbins who obtained it from Mr. John W. Lee, the 

 original discoverer, is positive that it comes from Potomac strata, and 

 the condition of the specimen tends to substantiate this view since it is 

 thoroughly altered to a jet. Picea does not have such wide scales and 

 those of Ahies are deciduous. 



Professor Fontaine referred this cone to the genus Pinites, presumably 

 the Pinites of Endlicher 1847 since it resembles somewhat the English 

 Wealden forms which were referred to that genus by Carruthers, Gard- 

 ner, and Seward. The genus Pinites, which is used by Seward in his 

 Wealden Flora in much the same way that the writer uses Abietites for 

 imperfect cones which resemble those of Ahies or the Strobus section of 

 Pinus, is somewhat misleading in the present case since the cone in 

 question is to all appearances referable to Cedrus, the modern species 

 of which have long since been segregated from the old genus Pinus. 



The genus Cedrus is represented in the Cretaceous by at least three 

 species of Albian age from various European localities, those from 

 France being associated with wood of the Cedroxylon type. Except 

 for its smaller size, which may be due to immaturity, the Potomac 

 cone is very close to those of these European species and to those of 

 the modern species of Cedrus. 



