XLVl] 



ATHROTAXITES 



313 



grounds for assuming any direct relationship between the Potomac 

 Conifers and Athrotaxis, and in view of the fact that the American 

 specimens can be accommodated in previously instituted genera, 

 there are no good reasons for retaining Fontaine's name. 



ATHROTAXITES. Unger emend. 



The Tasmanian genus Athrotaxis (page 150) is one of the existing 

 Conifers of which our knowledge of morphological features is very 



Fig. 753. A, B, D, Athrotaxites Ungeri. C, Athrotaxites lycopodioides. (A, B, D, 

 after Halle; A, nat. size. C, after Saporta; nat. size.) 



incomplete: its restricted range and the striking resemblance of 

 the vegetative characters to those of many Jurassic species in- 

 cluded in Brachyfhyllum suggest antiquity, but palaeobotanical 

 records have furnished very little evidence of value in support of 

 this conclusion. It is however probable that like several other 

 plants' now confined to the southern hemisphere Athrotaxis is a 



