558 Gibbs . — On the Development of the 
as described for P. Hallii (PI. LI, Fig. 61 and PI. LII, F'ig. 64 ). Sometimes 
a small dead ovule would be found still attached to the strobilus (F'ig. 71 ). 
The development of the species is so similar to P. Totara and P. Hallii 
that no longitudinal sections are given. The chief difference is in the 
micropyle, which is very long, which is also the case with the integument and 
the apex of the prothallus. The produced conical apex of the ovuliferous 
scale is intermediate between the two former species. Certainly in their de- 
velopment as in appearance, these three species seem to be very closely allied. 
Conclusions and Summary. 
In the foregoing pages we have seen that much of the debatable struc- 
ture of the different parts of the fruiting axis in Podocarpus is due to 
interpretation based on the study of secondary modifications alone, which 
are easily explained by a serial study of the process of development in 
early stages. 
The structure of the different parts of the cone is then homogeneous ; 
therefore it is only by tracing the serial development of the axis as a whole 
from the bud to the fruit that the progressive sequence of the evolution of 
the structure and the specific development of its different parts can be 
offered. 
This study at the same time strikingly reveals the relationship of the 
axis to the strobilus or cone of the Abietineae and its component parts, 
a relationship previously suggested by Bennett and Brown (2), Sperk (50), 
and Bertrand (3), and recently supported by Tison, in Saxegothaea (57). 
These authors all consider the ovuliferous envelope of the Podocarpoi- 
deae as analogous with the ovuliferous scale of the Abietineae, which, to 
quote Bertrand (3), ‘ from the Abietineae to the Taxineae through Saxe- 
gothaea and the Podocarps shows a general tendency to surround in a hood- 
like fashion the ovule or ovules which it carries, fusing more and more 
till finally it merges in the ovular integument in Torreya and Cephalo- 
taxus \ Bertrand traces a further reduction in strobilus organization in 
the fewer number of bracts and increased independence of the ovuliferous 
scale for protective purposes, through Microcachrys and Dacrydium until 
the final reduction is reached in Podocarpus. 
Tison has confirmed this interpretation for Saxegothaea , in which he 
considers the so-called aril of earlier botanists and the 4 epimatium ’ of 
Pilger to be 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 in the other genera, where there is less 
development of the fertile bract above the ovule, whose base is partially 
protected by the ovuliferous scale. In other species of Podocarpus the bracts 
only develop below the ovule, which is encircled by the ovuliferous scale. 
