74 



Laurinece. 

 Laukus nebrascensis, Lesqx., PL x, Fig. 1 ; PL xxviii, Fig. 14. 



Leaves thick, coriaceous, elliptical oblong or narrowly lanceolate, obtusely pointed, tapering down- 

 ward to a short thick petiole ; medial uerve thick, half-round ; secondary veins alternate, at an acute 

 angle of divergence, camptodrome. 



Laurus nebrascensis, Lesqx., American Journal of Science and Arts, (2) , xlvi, 



1868, p. 98. 

 Persea nebrascensis, Lesqx., Transactions of the American Philosophical Soci- 

 ety, vol. xiii, p. 431, PL xxiii, Figs. 9, 10. 



The leaves referred to this species are represented by a number of speci- 

 mens which mark transitional forms between the large elliptical leaf of PL 

 x, Fig. 1, and the linear lanceolate one of PL xxviii, Fig. 14. In the me- 

 moirs of the Transactions, {loc. cit.,) I had figured, in apposition with this last 

 fragment, the base and petiole of another leaf exactly similar to any of the 

 two figures of this report, by its thick vein, thick, short petiole, and second- 

 ary nervation, but intermediate to both in form and size. These leaves are 

 thick, coriaceous, perfectly entire, the largest 12 centimeters long, including 

 the petiole 2 centimeters ; widest in the middle 2J to 4 centimeters broad, 

 gradually and equally tapering in a curve up to a slightly obtuse point and 

 downward to the thick petiole ; the secondary veins alternate, at an acute 

 angle of divergence of 30° to 35°, curve near and along the borders, being 

 unequally distant but parallel from the base ; the details of areolation, obsolete 

 even in the best preserved specimens, are doubtfully indicated by a kind of 

 papillose marking of the surface, which, however, may result from the coarse- 

 ness of the matrix of the specimens. 



If the relation of these leaves to those of some species of Laurus is well 

 marked, as, for example, with Tersea speciosa, Heer, of the Miocene of Europe, 

 it is not the less evident with some Cretaceous species of Magnolia like M. 

 speciosa, Heer, (Mol. FL, PL 10, Fig. 2.) The narrow leaves of our species are 

 comparable also to Myrtophyllum geinitzii of the same, Mol. FL, PL xi, Figs. 

 3-4, for their form at least. The presence of a fruit referable to a species of 

 Laurus seems to point out the reference to the same genus of the leaves 

 described above. 



Habitat. — Near Decatur, Hay den. Leaves and fruit near Fort Har- 

 ker, Leconte. 



Laurus macrocarpa, Lesqx., PL x, Fig. 2. 



Fruit round oval ; nut surrounded by a thick pericarp ; pedicel club-shaped. 



