CONIFERAE 607 



that, in the Permian period, Conifers resembling 

 Araucarieae both in vegetative and reproductive 

 characters already existed. 



The evidence for the antiquity of the Araucarieae 

 has recently been summed up by Professor Seward. 1 

 In Triassic, Rhstic, and Liassic beds there are a 

 number of specimens of twigs, wood, and cones which 

 may probably be Araucarian, but none appear to be 

 absolutely decisive. From the Jurassic onwards the 

 evidence, from well-preserved cones and other remains, 

 is ample and convincing. It is interesting to find 

 that examples of probable Araucarieae with more than 

 one seed on the carpellary scale have recently been 

 described from Cretaceous horizons. In the genus 

 Protodammara, of Hollick and Jeffrey, from the State 

 of New York, there are three seeds on each scale, 

 while the anatomical structure indicates a relation to 

 the recent genus Agathis? In the Pseudoaraucaria 

 of Fliche, from the Albian of the Argonne, each scale 

 bears two seeds, and the structure suggests a possible 

 link between the Araucarieae and Abietineae. 



The Taxodieae, the tribe to which the famous 

 " Big Trees " of California {Sequoia giganted) belong, 

 may claim a high antiquity, if the genus Voltsia, from 

 the Upper Permian and Triassic, is rightly referred 

 to this group. The evidence in this case does not 

 depend merely on vegetative characters, but is 

 strengthened by the morphology of the cone, the 



1 Seward and Ford, "The Araucarieae, Recent and Extinct," Phil. 

 Trans. Royal Soc. B, vol. 198, 1906, p. 370. 



2 A. Hollick and E. C. Jeffrey, "Affinities of Cretaceous Plant Remains 

 commonly referred to Dammara and Brachyphyllum" American Naturalist, 

 vol. xl. 1906. 



