688 PROFESSOR A. C. SEWARD ON 



is little in common between the two plants. In recent Conifers the male flowers some- 

 times occur in the form of a long inflorescence, as in Podocarpus spicata, but in no 

 recent type do we find a male inflorescence agreeing closely with the problematical fossil 

 shown in text-fig. 11. 



Masculostrobus sp. (Text-fig. 11, d, e.) 



This specimen, as already pointed out, may belong to Elatides curvifolia, though 

 there is no proof of connection. It is a piece of a male flower bearing bracts similar to 

 those in Masculostrobus Zeilleri, but rather larger. Two spores are seen in fig. 11, e, 

 which in size (60m in diameter) agree approximately with the microspores of the recent 

 species Araucaria imbricata. 



Taxites, Brongniart. 

 Taxites Jeffreyi sp. nov. (PI. V. fig. 73.) 



The specimen from Eathie figured by Miller on page 473 (fig. 131, A) of The 

 Testimony of the Hocks is probably specifically identical with the smaller specimen 

 represented in fig. 73. The leaves are spirally disposed and of the Taxites type, using 

 this designation in a wide sense and not as implying affinity only with the genus Taxus. 

 The Eathie example is partially petrified : the axis, 2*5 mm. in diameter, has an 

 eccentric pith of large cells surrounded by two rings of homogeneous wood. Unfortun- 

 ately I have not been able to recognise any bordered pits on the tracheal walls ; the 

 anatomical features do not, therefore, enable me to determine the affinity of the species. 

 The leaves, which are plano-convex in section, appear to have a single median vascular 

 bundle ; the mesophyll shows no palisade cells, but there appear to be indications of 

 secretory canals. I have called these specimens after Professor Jeffrey, whose 

 researches have considerably increased our knowledge of the affinities of Mesozoic 

 Conifers. The use of the generic name Torreya by Yokoyama # for a Japanese species 

 of Taxites which closely resembles Taxites Jeffreyi is misleading, and is not supported 

 by any satisfactory evidence of relationship to that genus.t 



Taxites sp. (PL V. fig. 74 ; text-fig. 12, A.) 



Accurate specific determination of such fragmentary specimens as those shown in 

 text-fig. 12, A, and in fig. 74 is impossible. The larger specimen shown in the text- 

 figure may be identical with Taxites zamioides (Leek, ex Bean MS.). J 



Taxites sp). cf.' Taxites gramineus (Heer). (PI. V. figs. 90, 91, 104.) 



These fragments of linear leaves probably belong to the same species. The lamina 



reaches a maximum breadth of 4 "5 mm., and one specimen (not figured) has a length of 



4 cm. ; there is a distinct midrib, but no lateral veins ; one specimen, fig. 90, shows some 



* Yokoyama (94), pi. xxii. 



+ Heer (75) refers similar specimens of coniferous twigs from the Lower Cretaceous of Greenland to the genus 

 Torreya. J Seward (00), p. 300. 



