Cupressinoxylon vectense; a fossil Conifer 
from the Lower Greensand of Shanklin, 
in the Isle of Wight. 
BY 
C. A. BARBER, M.A., F.L.S., 
Lecturer in Botany in the Royal Indian Engineering College , Cooper's Hill . 
With Plates XXIII and XXIV. 
Introduction. 
I N the study of the anatomy of plants few subjects have 
received such minute attention as the structure of 
Coniferous wood. The simple and unique character of the 
elements composing such wood has rendered it peculiarly 
suitable for examining the growth of timber, the effect of 
seasonal variations and the formation of annual rings, the 
ascent of water, and other life-problems. But perhaps 
a greater inducement, at any rate among the older writers, 
was found in the useful and ornamental character of many 
of the fossil woods — coal, lignite, agate, opal, amber — which 
led to the formation of collections of these substances and 
their examination by the curious. It is hardly necessary to 
point out that the bulk of these woods belonged to the Coni- 
ferous type, this being due to their much wider distribution 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XII. No. XL VII. September, 1898.] 
