398 ABIETINEAE [CH. 



and seeds of recent Pines and other Abietineae. It is not possible 

 to determine the precise generic affinity of seeds of this type, but 

 their practical identity with recent Abietineous seeds warrants 

 their reference to that family. 



PITYOSPORITES. Seward. 



This generic name has been adopted^ for spores, provided-with 

 bladder-like extensions of the exine, agreeing in size and form with 

 those of recent Abietineous genera. Winged pollen occur also in 

 the Podocarpineae, but the fossil examples so far recorded are much 

 more like the microspores of Abietineous genera than those of 

 Podocarpus, Dacrydiuyn and Microcachri^s. 



Pityosporites antarcticus Seward. 



In the course of examining sections of wood collected by 

 Mr Priestley on the Priestley Glacier (approximately lat. 74° S.) I 

 noticed two small microspores in the siliceous matrix of the partially 

 decayed stem^: one is shown in fig. 491, G (Vol. iii. p. 298); the 

 longest axis is 80 |i and the central part bears two bladders charac- 

 terised by a fine surface-reticulation similar to that on recent spores. 

 A microspore of Pinus sihestris has a length of 75 /j,. It is very 

 unlikely that the spores have any connexion with the stem in which 

 they are preserved; they bear a much closer resemblance to the 

 microspores of Abietineous genera than to the spores of the Podo- 

 carpineae: the probabihty is that the Antarctic specimens belong 

 to some Abietineous Conifer though this cannot be definitely stated. 

 It is probable that the upper part of the Beacon Sandstone, from 

 which the boulder containing the fossil is believed to have been 

 derived, is not older than Lower Mesozoic, e.g. Rhaetic. 

 Pityosporites sp. 



Among the spores found by Nathorst^ in Liassic clay from Hor 

 in Scania were several winged microspores, one of which is repro- 

 duced in fig. 790, C from a photograph kindly supplied by Prof. 

 Nathorst. The length of the spore is about 100;u. and in the ■ 

 shape of the bladders it agrees closely with the microspores of 

 Picea excelsa*. 



1 Seward (14) p. 23. ^ Ibid. p. 23, PI. viii. fig. 45. 



' Nathorst (08) p. 13, PI. ii. 



■■ Kirchner, Loew, and Schroter (06) p. 151, fig. 68. 



