XLV] CONITES 255 



tbem is the cast of a seed, s. One of the scales, 1-7 cm. long, of this 

 cone is represented in section in fig. 736, B : a vascular bundle, c, 

 runs through the length of the tissues towards the blunt spinous 

 distal end above which is a prominent hump and next to this a 

 ligule, /, close to the depression in which the seed, s, was situated. 

 Below the vascular bundle, c, a band of periderm surrounds a 

 central area of decayed tissue, a, a. Next the lower surface at 

 b are a few layers of pahsade cells, a characteristic feature. The 

 specimen shown in section in fig. 736, A, is described as forma S : 

 the secondary xylem, x, of the axis is not sufficiently well pre- 

 served to throw any light on the nature of the tracheal pitting. 

 The large (white) cavities at first sight suggesting seeds near the 

 axis are bounded by periderm and correspond to the partially 

 destroyed tissue in fig. 736, B : a delicate structure, the nature of 

 which could not be determined, occurs in the cavity d, fig. 736, A. 

 In the scale e several smaller cavities are seen near the upper face 

 above the vascular strands and below the latter is a larger cavity ; 

 similar cavities are shown in the scale/ (fig. 736, A). 



Cones similar to Conites Juddi are described by Velenovsky^ 

 as Fricia nohilis and Sequoia fastigiata, both from Lower Cretaceous 

 strata, but it is impossible to say whether the resemblance has any 

 significance. In several anatomical characters the scales of 

 Conites Juddi resemble those of Protodammara described by Hollick 

 and Jeffrey from Kreischerville. The only indication of pits on 

 the xylem tracheids in the Scottish cones was seen in the scale 

 shown in fig. 736, B : the pits are for the most part uniseriate but 

 occasionally contiguous though generally not actually in contact. 

 Large idioblasts and resin-cavities occur in both the Scottish and 

 American cones, but in the former the occurrence of a ligule is a 

 distinguishing feature in which they agree with cone-scales of 

 recent Araucarias. In Araucaria the seeds are embedded in the 

 substance of the scales while in the fossil species they are situated 

 in a depression on the upper face, a feature in which Conites Juddi 

 agrees more closely with the cones of Agathis. In the sporophylls 

 of Conites Juddi, which anatomically are close to those of recent 

 Araucarineae, characters occur which are now shared between 

 Araucaria and Agathis. The apparently small size of the seeds 

 1 Velenovsky (85) B. PI. m. fig. 6; PI. vni. fig. 13. 



