XLIX] TAXITES 417 



Palaeocladus Ettingshausen. 



This name was applied to a single species, Palaeocladus cunei- 

 Jortnis, from New South Wales^ founded on a specimen described 

 as a linear cuneiform phylloclade with a median rib from which a 

 few simple veins are given ofi at an acute angle, each passing up 

 the middle of a lateral tooth; the teeth or serrations are regarded 

 as lateral phylloclades concrescent with one another and with the 

 main flattened axis. A few small scales occur at bhe base of the 

 compound phylloclade. Ettingshausen' s ingenious interpretation, 

 though possibly correct, rests on too slender a basis to justify the 

 assumption of any affinity to Phyllocladus. 



Phyllocladopsis Fontaine. 



This generic term was proposed for some branched foliage- 

 shoots from the Potomac formation^ characterised by small broadly 

 ovate leaves with spreading veins. The type-species Phylloclad- 

 opsis heterophylla (fig. 798, D), as Fontaine and Berry state, bears 

 a close resemblance to some forms of Nageiopsis and there can be 

 little doubt as to the foliar nature of the appendages, which afford 

 no evidence of morphological affinity to the phylloclades of a 

 Phyllocladus. The species must be left for the present as a plant 

 of uncertain position: it would seem more appropriate to adopt 

 the generic name Nageiopsis than to make use of a designation 

 suggesting a relationship which has not been established. 



Taxineae. 



TAXITES. Brongniart. 



This generic name, first proposed by Brongniart* for some 

 Tertiary and one Jurassic species, has been widely used for vege- 

 tative shoots bearing spirally disposed and distichously placed 

 linear leaves {e.g. fig. 802) resembling in habit those of Taxus, 

 Sequoia sempervirens , Cephalotaxus and some other recent Conifers. 

 In the absence of anatomical characters or reproductive organs it 

 is impossible to determine the precise position of shoots of this 

 common form and the designation Taxites, as generally employed, 



1 Ettingshausen (86) p. 93, PI. vni. figs. 33, 33 a. 



2 Fontaine (89) B. p. 204, PI. lxxxiv. fig. 5, PI. cLxvn. fig. 4; Berry (03) B. 

 = Brongniart (28) A. p. 108. 



S.IV 27 



