608 STUDIES IN FOSSIL BOTANY 



seminiferous scales of which are lobed, as in the 

 recent genus Cryptomeria. Voltzia, however, has also 

 been regarded as an Araucarian. A number of other 

 fossil remains have been referred to the Taxodieae, 

 but they are for the most part of Tertiary or Cretaceous 

 age. Cones closely resembling those of Sequoia, 

 attached to leafy branches of the type known as 

 Brachyphyllum, have, however, been found by Professor 

 Zeiller in the Lias of Madagascar. 



As regards remains of the Abietineae, the fossil 

 cones are seldom well enough preserved to show the 

 seeds in relation to the seminiferous scale, the character 

 on which the identification of the tribe depends ; in 

 the case of such a genus as Pinus, however, the 

 grouping of the needles on short twigs is so characteristic 

 as to leave little doubt of the affinity, when this feature 

 is associated with a resemblance in the habit of the 

 cones. It has been known for some time that 

 Abietineae, allied to Pinus, occurred in the Wealden 

 formation ; the evidence is strengthened by the 

 occurrence of Abietineous wood at the same horizon. 1 

 Recently the genus Pinus has been recognised, on 

 the evidence of characteristic cones, in the Portlandian 

 (Upper Oolite), while Abietinean wood has also been 

 found in deposits of Jurassic age. Professor Jeffrey 

 has lately described, under the name of Prepinus, leaves 

 of a Cretaceous Conifer, preserved as lignite, which, 

 while showing clear indications of affinity with Pinus, 

 possess centripetal xylem in the bundle, and other 

 primitive characters, even recalling the structure of 



1 Seward, " Plants of the Wealden,'' Part ii. p. 193 ; " On a New 

 Species of Conifer, Pittites liuffordi" Journal of the IJnnenn Society, 

 vol. xxxii. p. 417, 1896. 



