384 Jeff re y- — The Wound Reactions of Br achy phy llum. 
woods belonging to the genus Br achy phy llnm, which has come from 
Cretaceous deposits of somewhat extended geographical and stratigraphical 
range, on the eastern coast of the United States. For this reason it becomes 
possible to treat the subject of the wound reactions of the wood of this 
genus with some degree of thoroughness. 
A feature which makes it possible to distinguish at once a well pre- 
served specimen of the wood of Brachyphyllum from that of any living 
representative of the Araucarineae or fossil forms more nearly allied to 
these, is the absence of resiniferous elements in the wood, other than those 
found in the medullary rays. Photograph 1, Plate XXVII, which is of a 
remarkably well preserved lignite from the Androvette pit, Kreischerville, 
Staten Island, N. Y., illustrates the truth of this statement. Although there 
are three annual rings present in the field of the photomicrograph, it is 
impossible even by the use of a magnifying lens to distinguish the presence 
of any resinous elements, such as occur in numbers in the wood of either of 
the living Araucarian genera Agathis and Araucaria . A somewhat exten- 
sive study of both longitudinal and transverse sections of the wood of 
Brachyphyllum has failed to reveal the presence of resiniferous elements 
of any kind in the normal wood of this genus. In this normal absence 
of resiniferous elements in the wood, Brachyphyllum resembles the older 
Gymnospermous groups, such as the Cordaitales, the Cycadales, the Pterido- 
spermae and their allies, not to mention the fossil Lycopodiales and 
Equisetales, in so far as these possessed secondary wood. In this respect 
too it also presents a striking degree of similarity to the very ancient 
although still flourishing coniferous genus Pinus , for in the pines there are 
no parenchymatous elements in the wood, other than those which surround 
the resin canals. 
Photograph 2, Plate XXVII, represents a part of a radial section of the 
same material, highly magnified. The radial pits of the tracheids occur in 
a single row, and are flattened above and below by mutual contact. The 
fact that in Brachyphyllum the radial pits ordinarily occur in a single row 
only, is probably due to the xerophytic habit of the genus, which is very 
marked. Very rarely the pits are in a double row in the ends of the 
tracheids, and then they alternate in the manner typical for the Araucarineae. 
Such a case of alternation has been figured in the first article, already cited 
above. The mutual flattening of the bordered pits of the tracheids is 
a sufficient diagnostic of Araucarian affinities, where the radial pits occur in 
but a single row. Another pronounced Araucarian feature is the presence 
of numerous crowded pits on the lateral walls of the cells of the rays. As 
this character has likewise been figured in the article referred to above, 
it need not be further discussed at the present time (op. cit ., PI. 5, Fig. 2). 
The same block of lignite, which supplied the sections illustrated in 
the two photographs described above, showed at one end evidence of 
