412 PODOCARPINEAE [CH. 



5 — 6 cm. long ; the fairly stout axis bears sporophylls, approxi- 

 mately at right-angles, consisting of a short and relatively thick 

 stalk expanded into a triangular scale bearing two ovate seeds, 

 3 — 3-5 mm. long, each being enclosed basally in a cupule (fig. 796, 

 C, D) : the distal end of each sporophyll forms an upturned acumin- 

 ate apex. The cuticle of the seed-coat shows that the latter 

 consisted of thick- walled cells, and within the testa Nathorst found 

 the remains of a much more delicate membrane, possibly repre- 

 senting the nucellus. Nathorst compares the sporophylls with 

 those of recent Dacrydiums, though in Stachyotaxus there are 

 normally two seeds on each sporophyll and not one as in the recent 

 genus, a difference possibly of no great importance. In habit 

 the fertile shoots of the fossil type are comparable with those of 

 Podocarpus spicata. Miss Gibbs^ in her account of recent Podo- 

 carpineae expresses agreement with Nathorst's view that Stachyo- 

 taxus is probably a member of that family. Nathorst describes a 

 second Swedish species but from a slightly lower horizon in the 

 Ehaetic series. This species, Stachyotaxus elegans, is characterised 

 by longer and stouter megastrobili reaching at least a length of 

 12 cm. and by longer linear leaves 10 cm. long. 



Hartz^ refers to Stachyotaxus septentrionalis some sterile shoots 

 from Lower Jurassic, or Rhaetic, beds in East Greenland, and 

 Halle^ draws attention to the superficial resemblance to the 

 Swedish type of some vegetative twigs from Graham Land which 

 he refers to the genus Elatocladus. 



Strobilites. Strobilites Milleri Seward and Bancroft. 



The specimen on which this species is founded* was obtained 

 by Hugh Miller from Upper Jurassic beds on the North-East coast 

 of Scotland and inaccurately figured in the Testitnony of the Rocks^. 

 Fig. 797 is from a careful drawing by Mr T. A. Brock of the original 

 specimen in the Edinburgh Museum. A slender axis bears nume- 

 rous spirally disposed oval bodies (6x5 mm.) which are no doubt 

 seeds : each shows a differentiation into an inner portion surrounded 



1 Gibbs (12) p. 539. 



- Hartz (96) PI. xix. figs. 2, 3. 



3 Halle (13=) p. 83. 



' Seward and Bancroft (13) p. 882, PI. i. fig. 13. 



"5 Miller (57) B. p. 493. 



