Barber . — Cupressinoxylon vectense . 335 
In view of this formidable and discouraging literature — an 
abyss in which such a vast amount of useless labour has been 
sunk — the description of a new ‘ species ’ of Cupressinoxylon 
is not an enviable task. But, as will be seen, it is possible 
to determine fairly accurately the age and morphological 
character of the specimens selected for description in the 
present paper ; and it becomes in this way permissible to 
submit them to the same exhaustive analysis as would be 
made in the study of a recent wood. 
The pieces of fossil wood dealt with are taken from a series 
of silicified, rolled, and water-worn fragments, much perforated 
by teredo-like burrows, collected from the Lower Greensand 
of Shanklin in the Isle of Wight \ 
Some of these specimens are in a beautiful state of pre- 
servation, showing not only the bordered pits on the radial 
walls with great distinctness, but even their sections in 
tangential view with what appears to be the suspended 
torus. Since a pith is to be found in all of them, it is easy 
to determine their approximate age ; and, while it cannot be 
definitely stated which are stems and which are branches, 
certain of them show in a marked manner the arrangement 
of cells in the annual rings which are characteristic of roots. 
It has, further, been possible to obtain in each specimen 
several sections in the transverse, tangential, and radial 
directions (thirty-two sections in all), and by this means some 
of the minor peculiarities of individual parts have, it is hoped, 
been ruled out. 
1 I am indebted to Mr. A. C. Seward, F.R.S., for the first and most beautifully 
preserved specimen, and to Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S., for the others. In both cases 
the specimens were accompanied by sections to which I have added a considerable 
number. 
The slides dealt with in the present paper have been numbered A. C. S. 4, 5, 6 ; 
D. H.S. 338, 344-349 5 C. A.B. 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 23, 24, 29, 30, 
35, 37 _ 4 1 2 * These sections have been cut by Mr. F. Chapman. 
As regards the expense of section-cutting, this has been defrayed out of a small 
Government grant from the Royal Society. By this means I have been enabled to 
obtain a far more complete series of sections than would have been the case 
otherwise. 
