Walchia. _Lign. 60._--The fossil coniferæ thus named by Sternberg, have numerous closely set, regularly pinnated branches, resembling those of _Araucaria excelsa_, and which are thickly beset with foliage. The leaves are sessile, compact, enlarged at the base, tetragonal or falciform, and slightly decurrent; they often vary considerably in form and length on the same bough. The branches are in some examples terminated by oblong cones, composed of imbricated, oval or lanceolate, pointed scales, the summits of which are not recurved, as in the Araucariæ. The trees of this genus are closely related to the _Araucaria excelsa_, and _A. Cunninghami_. Some species occur in the Coal formation at St. Etienne and Autun;[151] others (as _Walchia hypnoides_) in the schists of Lodève, and in the copper slates of the Zechstein in Mansfeld.[152] [151] "Mines de Houille de Vettin, &c." See "Tableau des Vég. Foss." p. 70, par M. Brongniart. [152] Missing! [Illustration: Lign. 60. Walchia hypnoides; 1/3 _nat._ _Permian, Lodève_. Part of a bough with six of the branches bearing terminal cones.] Abietites.--To the Abies, or Fir, several cones found in the Wealden deposits of Sussex and Hants closely approximate in the form and structure of their scales. The most remarkable is the very elongated coniferous fruit, first discovered by me in the Wealden at Brook Point, and described and figured in my Geology of the Isle of Wight (_2d edit._ p. 452), under the name of _Abietites Dunkeri_, in honour of the eminent geologist who has so successfully and diligently explored the Wealden of the North of Germany. I have been so fortunate as to collect from thirty to forty specimens of these fruits of the conifers of the country of the Iguanodon, associated with trunks and branches, and imperfect vestiges of single lanceolate leaves. [Illustration: Lign. 61. Abietites Dunkeri. _Wealden; Isle of Wight;_ 1/3 _nat._ Fir-cone, showing the imbricated scales, and many bracteæ.] [Sidenote: ABIETITES DUNKERI.] Abietites Dunkeri. _Lign. 61._--These cones are of a cylindrical form, and greatly elongated: the largest specimen is thirteen inches in length, and but three inches in circumference. The scales are broad, slightly convex without and concave within, obovate or subrotund, with a prominent midrib, edges thin and entire. Leaves solitary, slender, slightly curved, from 1 inch to 1-1/2 inch in length. The cones were garnished with bracteæ, which are seen on the margins of the fossil when imbedded in the rock. Whether the foliage that forms the constituent substance of a large proportion of the bituminous coal of Hanover (_ante_, p. 74), and which has been figured and of the named by Dr. Dunker _Abietites Linkii_, belongs to the same species of Fir as these cones, I am unable to determine. The seeds are of an ovate form: the pericarp is in the state of carbon, and filled or lined with pyrites or calc-spar.