488 
Stiles . — T he Podocarpeae . 
II. Petrified Wood. 
Gothan 1 has recently described several examples of petrified wood 
which he ascribes to the genera Podocarpoxylon and Phylloclcidoxylon on 
account of the structure of the wood, special stress being laid on the 
medullary ray pitting. Another species has also been described by 
Kubart under the name of Podocarpoxylon Schwendae . 2 * These woods 
certainly appear to resemble existing species of Podocarpeae as far as 
the structure of the wood is concerned ; the difficulty lies in determin- 
ing how far the structure of the Podocarpean woods examined by Gothan 
can be regarded as characteristic of the Podocarpeae, recent and fossil. 
A similar wood structure is known to exist in forms not very nearly 
related, and it is of course possible that this may be the case here. At 
present, therefore, it seems best not to regard as proved the references 
of petrified wood to a Podocarpean affinity. 
III. Impressions of Cones, Cone Scales, and Seeds. 
Ettingshausen has described an impression from the Cretaceous of 
New Zealand as a fruit of Podocarpium Unger ip while from the Tertiary 
of Australia 4 and New Zealand 5 fruits referred to species of Podocarpus 
have been described by the same writer. None of the figures of these 
species can, however, be regarded as at all convincing of Podocarpean 
affinity. 
Two fruits referred to Podocarpus have been figured by Gardner 
as occurring in the British Eocene Flora . 6 These figures certainly show 
a resemblance to Podocarpus seeds, but unfortunately not much detail 
is evident to make certain their reference. 
Of great interest are certain fossils that have been described by 
Professor Nathorst. The genus Carpolithesp as Nathorst says, shows much 
resemblance to the recent form Podocarpus spicatus in that a number 
of seeds are arranged on a spike. 
Two fructifications of Rhaetic age recently described by Professor 
Nathorst are suggested by him as having possibly a Podocarpean affinity . 8 
They are S tacky otaxus and Palissya. There seems to be good evidence 
of an epimatium in the former genus at any rate, although it does not 
seem to be so asymmetrical as the typical Podocarpean epimatium. In 
any case these genera differ exceedingly from any recent Podocarpean 
fructification, for Stachyotaxus had two ovules to the cone scale, while 
Palissya had as many as io or is to the scale, and it has been shown 
1 Gothan (’05), (’07), (’08). 2 Kubart (’10). 
3 Ettingshausen (’87), p. 177. 4 Ettingshausen (’86), p. 92. 
5 Ettingshausen (’87), pp. 156, 157. 6 Gardner (’83-6). 
7 Nathorst (78), p. 27, Taf. XV, Figs. 14, 15. 8 Nathorst (’08). 
