184 THE BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. [Vo i. xxiy. no. 28 4. 



large arid roundish, oval or elliptical, and are found 1 or 2 for 

 each tracheid. These large pits remind us of those of Pinus 

 (Penhallow 9). In the place adjoining to the thick walled 

 tracheids, the pits are small and elliptical or lenticular. The 

 pits of horizontal and tangential walls are small and roundish 

 or elliptical like those of Abies or " Abietineen-Tiipfelung " 

 (Gothan I). 



In short, the medullary rays have the mixed characters of 

 those in Abies and Pinus, though there are no ray-tracheids. 



The wood-parenchyma is very sparsely distributed among 

 the tracheids. It consists of vertical rows of thin walled 

 elongated cells. They have dark brown contents. The distribu- 

 tion, appearance and contents of these cells suggest resin con- 

 taining cells. 



The protoxylems are not preserved in the main stem, but 

 they can be recognised in a branch just separating from the 

 stem in the longitudinal section. They are not so well preserved 

 as to determine the nature of thickenings on the wall. The 

 wood is endarch. 



The pith in the main axis is not preserved at all, but we 

 can see it in the basal portion of a branch imbedded in the 

 main axis. In this region there is an indication of the differen- 

 tiation of a transversal tissue plate consisting of shorter cells 

 characteristic to Abies. 



Affinities. The above described characters of the stem 

 namely the absence of normal resin canals in the wood in 

 general, the occurrence of traumatic resin canals, the tracheids 

 usually with one row of bordered pits, sometimes with double 

 rows and then arranged opposite to each other, the medullary 

 ray cells without serrtaion on their walls, clearly locate this 

 specimen among Abieteas of Jeffrey (4). Of living Coniferas, 

 those which possess the mucilage cells in the cortex are limited 

 to only two genera, Abies and Pseudolarix (Prantl 10). 

 The former has resin reservoirs in the cortical region of the 

 stem, while the latter, none in the. same region. 



Thus Abies it is the genus with which we are to associate 

 the fossil. But in having the resin canals in the second annual 



