A bietineae (?) from the Cretaceous of New Zealand . 1 1 7 
A form which appears, however, to be very closely allied to my 
new fossil is that which was described long ago by Witham as Pence Lindleii 
(see Witham, 1833 ) ; though the essential characters of the medullary rays 
of this species were not noticed either by him or by the later writers who 
mention it. 
As I have come to the conclusion that this fossil is sufficiently like the 
New Zealand form to be included in the same new genus, some notes on its 
structure and figures of its details not hitherto illustrated will now be given. 
Notes on Peuce Lindleii, Witham (Araucarioxylon Lindleii 
of Seward). 
This classical species was first described from a specimen of Upper 
Lias age found one mile south of Whitby by Mr. Nicol. In 1831 Witham 
partly described and figured it, but without giving it a name. In 1833 he 
amplified his description and added further 
plates to those he reprinted from his earlier 
work, and named the fossil Peuce Lindleii 
in the text, and Peuce Lindleyana in the 
plate description. He paid particular at- 
tention to the specimen, as it was the first 
which had been discovered at that time 
which showed what appeared to him to 
be direct affinity with living Conifers. 
Unger, Brongniart, Goeppert, Carruthers, 
and others have referred to it under various 
names from time to time, and it was re- 
described and figured in more detail by 
Seward in his Jurassic Flora (see Seward, 
1904 , p. 56 et seq.), Seward calls it Arau- 
carioxylon Lindleii, basing his generic iden- 
tification on the tracheide-pitting, which 
he describes as follows : ‘ Tracheids 
bearing 1-3 rows of bordered pits on their radial walls ; the pits usually 
occur in two contiguous rows, alternately disposed and polygonal in shape ; 
occasionally three rows of pits occur, and some of the tracheids possess 
a single row/ He figures in his PL VII, Fig. 5, their typical Araucarian 
pitting (see also my Text-fig. 5). 
The original old sections and some others are now in the Geological 
Department, British Museum (Natural History), and I have recently 
examined them carefully, and have observed that not only do the general 
characters of the tracheides and their pittings agree with the New Zealand 
fossil, but that the much more remarkable features of the ray cells also 
agree very closely. In the sections now in the British Museum, particularly 
Text-fig. 5. Planoxylon Lindleii 
(Witham). Sketch of radial section 
showing the Araucarian type of pitting 
of the tracheides and something of the 
‘ Abietinean pitting’ of the ray cells of 
a medullary ray two cells high. [From 
No. 51488, British Museum (Nat. 
Hist.), Geological Collections.] 
