308 



CTJPEESSINEAE 



[CH. 



sufficient clearness morphological features that justify the con- 

 clusion that the specimens agree more closely with Libocedrus 

 than with Thuya or Thujopsis. The present discontinuous dis- 

 tribution of Libocedrus (page 126) is favourable to the view that 

 it was formerly much more widely spread, but despite the very 



Fig. 752. Cupressinocladus salicornoides. (After linger ; nat. size.) 



close resemblance between the sterile shoots of the Tertiary 

 Conifer to those of some existing species of the genus it would be 

 unwise to adopt the designation Libocedrus or Libocedrites. 



Heer^ described fragments from Miocene strata in Greenland 

 as Libocedrus Sabiniana including a supposed cone-scale, which 

 is too indistinct to be determined. To this species Beust refers 

 some petrified wood from the same locality. The sterile specimens 

 recorded by Gardner^ from the Woolwich beds of Kent as Libo- 

 cedrus adpressa, though similar to L. salicornoides, are no doubt 

 specifically distinct : they are valueless as evidence, of the existence 

 of Libocedrus. Laurent^ also records the species from Aquitanian 

 beds in the Puy-de-D6me. 



1 Heer (83) p. 58, Pis. Lxx., lxxxvi., lxxxvii. ; Beust (85) p. 40, Pis. m., v. 



2 Gardner (86) p. 25, PI. ii. figs. 17—20. ' Laurent (12) p. 69. 



