JEFFREY: NEW ARAUCARIAN. 331 
ovuliferous scale of the Conifers as the equivalent of a metamorphosed 
short-shoot. In the light of recent investigations on the fossil Conifers 
this hypothetical explanation of the morphology of the seed-bearing 
appendages of the female cone receives a very satisfactory corrobora- 
tion. Further, nothing could be more in harmony with present tenden- 
<'ies in morphology, than to find that the short-shoot or its equivalent 
has ■ persisted at least in a vestigial form, in connection with the re- 
productive apparatus long after it has disappeared or almost disap- 
peared in the vegetative axis of the living Conifers, with the exception 
of the very ancient genus Pinus. We may then safely assume that th^ 
presence of short-shoots was a primitive attribute of the Coniferous 
stock and that as a consequence we find it present in older representa- 
tives of those two Coniferous tribes, viz., the Abietineae and the Arau- 
carineae, which we know to have had the longest geological history. ^ 
Another feature of interest connected with the genus described in 
the present article, is that it adds one more bond to the evidence 
connecting the Abietineae and Araucarineae. As a result of recent 
investigations on the woods of the American Lower Cretaceous, we 
know that the ligneous structure of some of the older Araucarian 
Conifers more nearly approached the Abietineae than is the case with 
any of those now living. The proof afforded by the genus Wood- 
worthia of the presence of short-shoots in the Araucarian line at so 
remote a period as the Trias, supplies an additional and very weighty 
piece of evidence as to the Abietineous origin of the Araucarian Coni- 
fers. As far back as the Triassic we find the tendency of the 
Araucarineae to become more and more like the Abietineae, clearly 
indicated. Whether this evidence is confirmed by the consideration 
of the general wood structure of the more ancient Araucarian Conifers, 
will be discussed in an extensive memoir, now in preparation. 
Summary. 
1. Woodworthia, an ancient Araucarian genus from the Triassic 
forests of Arizona, possessed the wood structure of the living repre- 
sentatives of the Araucarineae. 
2. It at the same time was provided with short- shoots of the Abie- 
tmeous type, which persisted in the wood of the trunk throughout the 
life of the tree. 
