distinguish Sequoia from A thro taxis. 387 
In Heer’s account of the cones of S. Couttsiae 1 the following features, 
which have a generic significance, have been overlooked. The seminiferous 
scale and bract are almost completely fused to form a single structure — - 
the cone-scale. In each cone-scale there are two regions, the stalk and the 
escutcheon ; in the latter only do traces of the original double structure of 
the scale remain, but there a small mucro and associated transverse ridge 
seem to represent the apex of the bract and the line of fusion respectively. 
This is a character of recent Sequoias, though in these the complete ridge 
is only seen in the basal scales of S. sempervirens ; in all other scales of 
both species the mucro is sunk in a groove and the ridge is apparent only 
at the edge. 
The surface of the escutcheon is always ornamented with radial 
wrinkles. Its form may be quadrilateral, pentagonal, hexagonal, or 
irregular, and its margin is always clearly defined (Figs. 3, a, b, and 4, a, c ) ; 
it is set at a marked angle to the stalk, there is never a gradual passage 
from one to the other. The stalk occasionally meets the escutcheon 
symmetrically at its centre and at a right angle ; more frequently, it meets 
it asymmetrically, towards its lower margin and at an obtuse angle ; this 
angle is greatest in the lowest scales, where it may be about 150°. Thus 
there are two extreme forms of scale — peltate and imbricate — with a variety 
of intermediate forms. 
In the recent S. sempervirens both these types are present ; the 
imbricate character is, however, confined to a few basal scales (Fig. 3, c). 
In S. gig an tea it is completely lost, and only peltate scales remain. 
Apparently it was the presence in the fossil of imbricate scales which led 
Mr. S. Gardner to identify it as Athro taxis, for he wrote that an uncrushed 
specimen ‘ revealed the fact that the scales of the cone are overlapping or 
imbricate as in A thro taxis, and not at right angles to the axis as in Sequoia \ 2 
As the new evidence from S. sempervirens shows that imbricate scales can 
occur, their presence in the fossil is not sufficient cause for placing it in 
A throtaxis rather than in Sequoia when all other evidence points to the 
latter genus, as will be shown. 
The cone-scales of Athrotaxis differ radically from those of the fossils 
and of the recent Sequoia. In A throtaxis bract and seminiferous scale 
retain their identity to a marked degree. The thin, horny bract projects 
as a pointed tongue beyond the woody, seminiferous scale ; hence the 
lower side of the cone-scale shows a continuous surface of bract from 
attachment to apex. There is no differentiation into stalk and escutcheon, 
and no ornamentation of the exposed surface. The seminiferous scale has 
a thickened, involute margin (Figs. 3, d, and 4, b, d). 
Further, while Sequoia and the fossil agree, Sequoia and A throtaxis 
differ widely in respect of the number and mode of attachment of the seeds 
1 Loc. cit. 2 Loc. cit. 
