85 

 Proteoidks, Heer. 



In the description of the first species referred to this genus in Phyllites 

 du Nebraska, the celebrated author remarks, "I have united, under the name 

 of Proteoides, some leaves from Big Sioux River, near Sioux City, which I 

 consider as referable to the family of the Proteacece, but which are in such a 

 poor state of preservation that their precise determination is not possible. 

 They are of great interest as the only representatives, but not as yet perfectly 

 recognized, of a family represented in abundance in the Upper Cretaceous of 

 Aix-la-Chapelle." As far, at least, as a comparison can be made with the 

 incomplete fragments figured by Heer, our leaves, representing the species 

 described in the Phyllites and far better preserved, seems to confirm the 

 statement of the celebrated author. The relation, however, is still un- 

 certain, based, as it is, merely on the comparison of the forms of leaves, whose 

 nervation is mostly undiscernible. 



Proteoides daphnogenoides, Heer, PI. xv, Figs. 1-2. 



Leaves ovate-lanceolate near the base, gradually tapering upward to a long, acute, scythe-shaped 

 point, entire, smooth, and coriaceous; medial nerve narrow; secondary veins obsolete, few, ascending 

 under a very acuto angle from the medial nerve and following the borders. 



Proteoides daphnogenoides, Heer, Phyllites du Nebraska, p. 17, PI. iv, 

 Figs. 9, 10 ; Lesqx., American Journal of Science and Arts, loc. cit., 

 p. 99. 



The best preserved specimen shows an entire leaf, measuring nearly 

 twenty centimeters in length, and three centimeters broad in its widest 

 part, a little above the base; the other leaf, also preserved nearly entire, 

 is about thirteen centimeters long and proportionally broad, enlarged like 

 the other above the base, tapering downward by a curve to a short petiole, 

 and more gradually tapering upward to a long point. The secondary veins, 

 which are extremely thin, are not at all marked in the large leaf, and are 

 distinguished upon the smaller leaf with some difficulty. Heer describes 

 his species as leaves coriaceous, narrowed to the base, entire, with a 

 strong medial nerve, and aerodrome secondary veins nearly parallel to the 

 borders. The medial nerve of these leaves is deeply impressed into the stone 

 but not thick ; and though the secondary veins ascend nearly parallel to the 

 borders, they do not appear aerodrome. Though the figures of this species 

 in the Phyllites show a larger leaf than the fragments of the two others, these 

 fragments arc too incomplete for positively ascertaining identity. 

 Habitat. — Decatur. Hayden, five specimens. 



