532 Dutt. — Pityostrobus macrocephalus , L. a?id H. 
specimen. Carruthers records one of the cones as being over six inches 
in length. P. ovatus is described as smaller and with a more tapering 
apex. 
The axis of the cone is very slender, being usually less than 5 mm. 
in diameter, i. e. occupying hardly one-tenth of the total diameter. It 
is also noticeable that the axis maintains its very slender proportions 
almost unchanged throughout the whole length of the cone. A charac- 
teristic feature of all transverse sections is the conspicuous ring of large 
resin-canals surrounding the vascular cylinder. 
Broad, sessile, and closely imbricated cone-scales leave the axis almost 
at right angles and curving sharply round the seeds continue almost verti- 
cally, though with a slight outward direction, for a distance of 4 to 5 cm. 
In transverse section, the cone-axis is seen to be enclosed by a whorl of four 
to five ovule-bearing sporophylls. Outside these is a zone, often more than 
1 cm. in thickness, consisting of the erect distal portions of closely imbricated 
scales. 
The presence of a short subtending bract-scale has been detected in 
both cones. In both cones also each of the large ovuliferous scales bears 
two ovules at its base occupying hollows in the upper surface. The 
distal end of the ovule is attached to the scale by a massive stalk-like 
tissue, while the blunt-ended micropyle is directed towards the centre of 
the cone. The lower part of the scale is also somewhat hollowed out 
underneath to make room for the ovules of the scale below ; the basal 
region, however, near the point of attachment, is much thicker than the 
rest of the nearly horizontal portion. The long vertical portion remains 
thin until it reaches the surface, where it swells out somewhat to form 
the slightly projecting apophysis. The smooth and rounded surface of 
the latter does not appear to have been marked by any sharply out- 
standing umbo, but it is too worn definitely to settle this point. 
The shape of the apophysis is supposed to constitute an important 
difference between the two so-called species. According to Carruthers, 
P. macrocephalus is distinguished by thick, flat, and irregularly six-sided 
apophyses, while those of P. ovatus are described as sub-quadrangular and 
higher than broad. Compared with figures of type specimens of the 
above species, the Sedgwick Museum cone appears somewhat intermediate 
in character (Fig. 1, PI. XV). It has been referred to P. macrocephalus , 
but the apophyses are generally more quadrangular than hexagonal and 
are not infrequently higher than broad. Hence, even if allowance be 
made for the incomplete nature of the specimen, and it is noticeable 
that in Henslow’s original drawing of P. macrocephalus the apophyses 
are markedly hexagonal even in the uppermost region of the cone, it is 
doubtful whether any great emphasis can be laid on the above distinc- 
tion. 
