258 



AEATTCAEINEAE 



[CH. 



being cavities in the proximal portion of the scales in which the 

 seeds were embedded. Numerous imbricate scales are attached 

 laterally to the central region and partially hidden in the matrix. 

 The scales are approximately 1-7 cm. broad and slightly winged. 

 The single seed on each scale, the general form of the cone, the shape 

 of the individual scales, and the occurrence of sterile scales at the 

 base of the axis are features in which the fossil is practically 

 identical with recent forms. Fig. 739 shows a piece of a smaller 



Tig. 739. Araucaritea ooliticus. A, Scale in surface-view showing the projecting 

 end of a seed. B, Scale seen from the proximal end showing the seed-cavity. 

 C, part of cone. (Northampton Museum; nat. size.) 



cone (in the Northampton Museum), of the same type ; this specimen 

 shows the appearance of the scales in end-view (C), in surf ace- view 

 (A), and as seen from the proximal end with the seed-cavity (B). 

 In fig. 739, A, the base of a seed is seen projecting from the middle 

 of the laterally expanded scale. An oblong-ovate cone described 

 by Carruthers^ from the Coralline Oolite at Malton, Yorkshire, as 

 Araucarites Hudlestoni is probably another example of this species : 

 in one of the specimens of A. Hudlestoni in the York Museum a 

 broad central region is occupied by a mass of pisolite to which 

 numerous cone-scales are attached. The scales are shown in 

 section and in several of them there is a single seed lying in a cavity 

 occupying the proximal end of the scale precisely as in ^. ooliticus. 

 It is possible that A. ooliticus is specifically identical with A. spJiae- 

 rocarpus ; it is at least a closely allied type. 



The specimen figured by Lindley and Hutton^ as Strobilites 

 Bucklandi appears to be indistinguishable from A. ooliticus. 

 Similar cones are illustrated by Araucarites Cleminshawi Mansell- 



1 Carruthers (77) ; Seward (04) B. p. 133. 

 ^ Lindley and Hutton (34) A. PI. cxxix. 



