386 



ABIETINEAE 



[CH. 



Though superficially very like a cone of Cedrus (fig. 779), Pityo- 

 strobus Leckenhyi also strongly resembles some species of Picea and 

 Abies in which the bract-scales do not project beyond the semini- 

 ferous scales. I have adopted the non-committal term Pityostrobus 

 as it is by no means certain that Carruthers' type is more closely 

 allied to Cedrus than to Abies. 



Dr Stopes includes in Cedrostrobus a second species, Cedrostrobus 

 Mantelli^, from the Lower Greensand of Kent which Carruthers 

 originally named Pinites: she compares with it a Potomac cone 

 described by Berry^ as Cedrus Leei. But these species do not afford 

 any proof of close relationship to the recent genus Cedrus. It is 

 probable that some of the numerous cones found in Lower Cre- 

 taceous rocks belong to trees having the characters of Cedrus, 

 though in the absence of more decisive evidence than has so far 

 been furnished it would seem preferable to retain the wider desig- 

 nation Pityostrobus. 



Pityostrobus Benstedi (Mantell). 



The small oval cone on which Mantell* founded the species Abies 

 Benstedi is from the Lower Greensand of Kent. It was subsequently 



Fig. 780. Pityostrobus Benstedi. Tangential section showing, os, ovuliferous scale; 

 bs, bract-scale; o, the two ovules on the ovuliferous scale; e, endosperm; u\ wing. 

 (After Stopes; x8.) 



described by Carruthers* as Pinites and regarded by him as prob- 

 ably more nearly allied to Cedrus than to Pinus. Dr Stopes^ has 

 recently made a further examination of the structure of this type 



1 Stopes (15) p. 145, text-fig. 40. = Berry (11) PI. LXX. fig. 4. 



' ManteU (46) p. 52, PI. ii. fig. 2. * Carruthers (66^) p. 641. 



s Stopes (15) p. 130, text-figs, 32, 33; Pis, x,, xi. 



