XliVm] FITYOCLADtrS 377 



PITYOCLADUS. Nathorst. 



Under this name, used as a subgenus of Pinites, Nathorst^ 

 includes branches bearing short shoots similar in habit to those of 

 Cedrus and Larix. Branches of this type, bearing leaves and cones, 

 are illustrated by Pityites Solmsi (figs. 772, 773), but in some cases 

 such vegetative shoots occur as detached fossils and it is to them 

 that Nathorst's term may conveniently be appUed. The striking 

 resemblance of the fossil specimens to shoots of Cedrus and Larix 

 and the frequent association or attachment of needle-like leaves 

 afford strong grounds for assigning the branch-fragments to the 

 Abietineae. 



Pityocladus Nathorsti Seward. 



In his description of Schizolepis Follini Nath.^ from Rhaetic 

 rocks in Scania, Nathorst includes not only cones with lobed scales 

 characteristic of Schizolepis but leaves and branches. Solms- 

 Laubach* expressed the opinion that we know nothing of the 

 fohage of Schizolepis 'for there is nothing to make it even probable 

 that the numerous needles which lie one above another in the beds 

 at Palsjo, any more than the branches beset with needle-bearing 

 shoots which Schenk has referred to this gemis, have any connexion 

 with Schizolepis.' In a later account of Schizolepis, Nathorst* 

 suggests the advisabihty of separating the leaves and branches 

 from the Schizolepis cones, though as he says the association of the 

 two sets of organs in more than one locality may be significant. 

 It is, therefore, preferable to assign the vegetative organs to 

 Pityocladus, at the same time keeping in mind the possibility of an 

 original connexion with the cones described under the generic name 

 Schizolepis. In order to avoid confusion I have removed the 

 branches and associated leaves from Schizolepis Follini to a dis- 

 tinct species Pityocladus Nathorsti. The specimens figured by 

 Nathorst consist of (i) a fairly stout axis bearing a smaller lateral 

 shoot like that on which the leaf-clusters of Cedrus and Larix are 

 borne; (ii) separate short shoots characterised by zones of small 

 scars alternating with smooth areas ; (iii) numerous crowded linear 

 leaves. 



1 Nathorst (97) p. 62. = Ibid. (78) B. p. 28. 



. 3 Solms-Laubach (91) A. p. 70. * Nathorst (97) p. 38. 



