1536 CORMOPHYTA. 



Jurassic of Europe and the United States ; it appears to be in some 

 respects intermediate between other Conifers and the next genus, 

 and its reference to this family is provisional. The existing South 

 African genus Widdringtonia, in which the leaves are alternate and 

 crowded, and in the young plant linear, is represented in the Conti- 

 nental Miocene ; while Callitris from the northern part of the same 

 continent was likewise widely spread over Europe in the Middle 

 Tertiary. In the Upper and Lower Cretaceous of Europe, and also 

 in North America, we meet with the extinct genus Frenelopsis ; 

 while in the Tertiaries allied forms have been referred to the exist- 

 ing genera Frenela and Actinostrobus, now confined to the Australian 

 region ; Librocedrus, which has now a much wider distribution than 

 the latter genera, dates from the higher Cretaceous of Greenland 

 and the United States, and is well represented in the Lower and 

 Upper Miocene of Europe. In Moriconia of the Upper Cretaceous 

 of Greenland and Germany, and the Dakota Cretaceous of America, 

 and Thujites ranging from the Rhaetic Y to the Upper Jurassic, we 

 have two genera of which the precise affinities are difficult to deter- 

 mine. Of the remaining existing genera known to occur in a fossil 

 state, Thuja is found in amber, and has also been recorded from 

 the Upper Cretaceous and Miocene of North America, but these 

 forms are regarded by Dr Schenk as probably referable to Chamceo- 

 cypris. Biota of Japan and China, and Thujopsis of Japan, occur 

 in the Miocene of Greenland ; Chamceocypris, of North America and 

 Japan, dates from the Lower Eocene and Miocene of Europe, and 

 probably from the American Cretaceous ; Cup?-essus (Cypress), which 

 has a wide distribution in the northern hemisphere, is probably found 

 in amber; while Ju niperus (Juniper) dates from the Upper Cretace- 

 ous of America and Greenland. Finally, Palceocypai-is which occurs 

 throughout the European Jurassic, and Phyllostrobus of the Kimerid- 

 gian of France, are allied extinct types. The last family of Conifers 

 is the Abietinece, including the Pines, Spruces, Larches, and Cedars, 

 all of which have tall symmetrical stems, and usually spirally-arranged 

 linear leaves, which may be either flattened or angulated. The cones 

 are usually large and pyriform, with tw T o seeds beneath each scale. 

 We may first mention the extinct genera Elatides and Palissya, of 

 which the family position is uncertain, since they show some charac- 

 ters of the Pines and others of the Yews. The former occurs in 

 the Jurassic of Siberia, but some of the forms appear to be Arau- 

 cariece ; while the latter is found in the European Rhaetic, the Lower 

 Gondwanas of India, the Australian Newcastle beds, and the reputed 

 Trias of New Zealand. The existing types are usually divided into 

 a number of genera, such as Pinus (true Pines), Abies (Spruce), 



1 The form from the Carboniferous described under this name is probably a 

 Lepidodendroid. 



