Female Strobilus in Podocarpus. 555 
and the usual presence of normal pollen in the pollen chamber, scarcely 
seem consistent with this view.’ 
These conditions are also fulfilled in the modern Podocarps, as we have 
seen, as far as the shedding of the seed before or after fertilization, as quoted 
above. Such shedding may very well be due to altering conditions of 
temperature or water supply, or to unknown physiological conditions which 
demand a reduction in the number of fruits the sporophyte can mature. 
The demands of the purely vegetative tissues of the strobilus on account of 
the advanced organization of the ovuliferous scale is as great before fertiliza- 
tion as it is after ; therefore, once initiated, the embryonic development is 
practically a fresh charge on the energies of the sporophyte. 
P. Hallii. 
P. Hallii is a scraggy, untidy looking tree, distributed over New 
Zealand, and is considered a variety of P. To tar a by Pilger ( 40 , p. 84), 
who makes it var. Hallii , Pilg. Cheeseman ( 14 , p. 648) keeps it up as 
a species, and this point of view, which would be supported by any botanist 
who had seen both species in the field, is also borne out by histological results. 
The strobili occur singly in the axils of the lower foliage leaves of 
lateral shoots and consist of a short peduncle, and in material investigated 
apparently two bracts, of which one (PI. LI, Figs. 60, 61, 62, and PI. LII, 
Fig. 64) or both may be fertile (PL LI, Fig. 63). The bract bases may 
remain either normal (Figs. 61, 62, and PI. LII, Fig. 64), or their bases 
become swollen (PI. LI, Fig. 60). The ovule is very elongated, and may 
be as long (Fig. 60), or even longer than the bracts (PI. LII, Fig. 64), or 
shorter (PL LI, Fig. 61) than the same. 
Histology. The material, which was collected in March, shows embryo 
formation, but the exact stage could not be determined, as the prothallial 
tissues having dried to a certain extent, the paraffin in consequence could 
not penetrate sufficiently well for successful sectioning. 
The ovuliferous scale shows a very much produced apex, equalling 
that seen in P. spicata (Fig. 62). 
The two inverted bundles, running down from the tip, show no lateral 
branching in the lamina (Fig. 62, v. b. 0. s.) ; each sends a phloem strand from 
the base of the ovule into the nucellus (Fig. 6 i,ph.st.). The resin canals are 
very large and no longer functional, all epithelium having disappeared. 
This condition was also noted by Brooks and Stiles ( 10 , p. 31 1) in 
P. spinulosa, but to state that they are always functionless, as they infer, 
is judging cause from effect. 
We have seen that in the earlier stages of the ovuliferous scale the 
resin canals are initiated with the vascular tissue system (PL LII I, Fig. 77,r.c.) } 
and invariably show a well-marked and active epithelium of thin-walled 
cells and dense contents (PL XLIX, Fig. 8 c). Their constant presence and 
