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Description of a Species of Bauhinia from the Cretaceous Clays of 
New Jersey, 
By J. S. NEWBERRY, 
Bauhinia cretacea, n. sp. 
Plate ivr. 
Leaves large, from four to seven inches in diameter, general 
outline circular, deeply two-lobed, sinus reaching below the mid- 
dle, margin entire, base rounded, lobes oblong or broadly spatu- 
late; nervation strong, radiate or bilateral, midrib slender, from a 
half-inch to an inch and a half in length, running to bottom of 
mesial sinus, there forking equally, each slender branch running 
parallel with the margin of the sinus; lateral nerves strong, usually 
two, rarely one on.each side springing from a common base, the 
interior lateral nérve strongest, forking several times and giving 
off fine branches, which inosculate to form a graceful festoon 
near the upper margin; the exterior lateral nerves, throwing off 
numerous branches which anastamose in loops near the margin, 
producing a camptodrome nervation. In those which have but 
a single lateral nerve, the lobes are narrower, and each is covered 
with the ramifications of the branches which spring chiefly from 
the outer side of the single main nerve. 
The form and nervation of these leaves are so precisely those 
of some of the Bauhinias of the present flora, that there can be 
no reasonable doubt we here have the remains of a well marked 
species of this genus, which grew near the mouth of the Hudson 
River, in the middle of the Cretaceous age, and was the associate 
of the Magnolias, Tulip-trees, Aralias, etc., which composed the 
angiosperm forest of eastern North America. In size, some of 
these leaves exceed those of any living Bauhinia, and the outline 
and nervation indicate, that the genus was as perfectly defined 
and highly specialized in the Cretaceous age as now. 
The living Bauhinias inhabit the tropical and subtropical 
regious of the Old and New World: India, Mauritius, Surinam, 
Cuba, Mexico, etc. The genus is closely related to Cercis, and 
most of the species have a similar habit. In a few the leaves are 
orbicular or slightly emarginate, but they are generally bilobed, 
the sinus reaching the middle of the leaf, sometimes extending to 
the base, as is the case with the only species inhabiting the 
