XLII] TRICHOPITYS 101 



A foliage-shoot described by Renault^ from Autun as Pinites 

 permiensis, though too imperfect to be identified, is worthy of 

 notice as possibly an example of Dicranophyllum or Trichopitys; 

 it consists of an axis 3 mm. in diameter bearing numerous spirally 

 disposed leaves 3 cm. long, barely 1 mm. broad and triangular in 

 section, at an angle of 45°. The leaf -cushions are elongate and 

 slightly prominent. It is, however, impossible to decide whether 

 this fossil should be referred to the Lycopodiales or to the Gymno- 

 sperms. There is no evidence that the leaves are attached to 

 short shoots and the use of the generic name Pinites cannot be 

 justified by any trustworthy test. 



TRICHOPITYS. Saporta. 



Saporta^ proposed the generic name Trichopitys in 1875 for 

 some shoots from the Permian beds of Lodeve bearing long, narrow, 

 and deeply divided leaves ; he defined the genus as follows : 

 'Folia verosimiliter rigida cartilagineaque, dichotome partita 

 etiamque pedato-partita, petiolo plus minusve elongato, sursum 

 in lacinias 4 — 6, anguste linear es, uninerviasque dissecta*.' Many 

 palaeobotanists have followed Saporta in regarding Trichopitys 

 as a member of the Ginkgoales, but the evidence in support of this 

 view is by no means conclusive. The only species so far described 

 that affords any information with regard to the habit or fertile 

 shoots of the plant is the type-species T. heteromorpha (fig. 673). 

 A fairly stout branched axis bears leaves varying considerably in 

 size and form ; they may be long and filiform, apparently rigid, 

 simple or deeply divided, or short and entire-, and in some cases 

 resembling the leaves of certain smaller species of Baiera except 

 in the less regular forking of the lamina. In the axil of some foliage 

 leaves are short, simple or branched, axes bearing seed-like bodies 

 originally described as buds and afterwards regarded as seeds. 

 A specimen figured by Zeiller* from Lodeve (fig. 673) shows a 

 branched axillary shoot bearing several small ovules comparable 

 with an abnormal ovuliferous shoot of Ginkgo (cf. fig. 631, D). 



1 Renault (96) A. p. 377; (93) A. PI. Lxxxn. fig. 1. 



2 Saporta (75) p. 1020. 



3 Ibid. (84) p. 263, PI. cm. fig. 1. 

 » ZeiUer (00^) B. p. 254, fig. 182. 



