524 Gibbs . — On the Development of the 
Abietineae than to the Taxoideae, but defers the discussion of the relation- 
ship of the ‘epimatium’ to the ovuliferous scale of the Abietineae (‘ Ich 
muss aber die Discussion dieser Angelegenheiten, besonders des Verhaltnisses 
des Epimatiums zu der Fruchtschuppe der Abietineen, einer allgemeinen 
Einleitung zu den Coniferen iiberlassen ’). 
Thomson, 1905 ( 55 , p. 43), looks upon the female flower of Podocarpus 
as an anatropous ovule with two well-differentiated integuments, an inner 
woody and an outer fleshy one. 
The fertile bracts are also united in some species to form a c re- 
ceptaculum ’ which becomes berry-like at maturity. 
Tison, in 1909 ( 57 , p. 155), working on Saxegothaea conspicua , LindL, 
finds that the so-called aril of earlier botanists or the ‘ epimatium ’ of Pilger 
is really the ovuliferous scale of the other Conifers, the summit of which 
is developed to protect the ovule, the coalescence of the different parts of 
the female cone being less than the other genera. 
This reduction of the cone is carried further in Microcachrys , where 
there is less development of the fertile bract above the ovule, whose base 
is partially protected by the ovuliferous scale. 
In the other Podocarps the reduction is much greater, there being only 
one or two fertile bracts which develop below the ovule, whereas the 
ovuliferous scale takes on a much greater development, completely en- 
circling the ovule, thus simulating a second integument. Tison recognizes 
the justice of Bertrand’s ( 3 ) conclusions. 
This view is entirely borne out by the results of the present investigation, 
which had been already arrived at in 1908, in working out the Fiji and 
New Zealand Podocarpus material collected in 1907. 
Coulter and Chamberlain, 1910 (18, p. 323), describe the ovule of 
Podocarpus as inverted and stipitate, arising conspicuously above the bracts. 
Young, in 1910 ( 61 ), considers the cone (with the exception of Saxe- 
gothaea and Microcachrys) replaced in Podocarpus by the single apparently 
terminal ovule and a few rudimentary scales. The ovule is provided with 
an arillus or ‘ epimatium ’. 
Finally Brooks and Stiles, in 1910 ( 10 ), describe Podocarpus spinulosa 
as anatropous, the nucellus surrounded by two integuments, the inner one 
being fused for half its length with the nucellus, the outer or ‘ epimatium ’ 
being free from the inner at the micropylar end and on the off-side. On 
the other it is either not present or fused with the ‘ stalk ’. 
In a postscript is added, ‘ Moreover, however, only on Tison’s view 
can it be considered as proved that the “ epimatium” completely surrounds 
the ovule in Podocarpus .’ 
They disclaim Tison’s results with emphasis. 
