DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 



MONOCOTYLEDONES. 

 PALM.SJ. 



SABALITES, Sternb. 



Sabalites Californicus, sp. nov. 



PI. I. Fig. 1. 



Fragment of a frond with rays of large size, carinate in the lower part, flattened 

 uptcards ; primary nerves broad and obtuse, secondary veins four to five, nearly 

 at equal distance, with three or four obsolete interim diatt r< inlets. 



The fragment represents the middle part of a large palmate leaf, whose 

 rachis is unknown. Its relation, therefore, to Sabal or to Flabellaria is 

 uncertain. The rays, distinctly carinate in the lower part of the speci- 

 men, where they measure twelve to fourteen millimeters, both sides 

 taken altogether, gradually widen upwards and become flattened, meas- 

 uring twenty-two millimeters at the top of the specimen, which is about 

 twelve centimeters both ways. The lower part, therefore, has the appear- 

 ance of a fragment of Sabal, while the rays flattened upward resemble 

 those of Flabellaria. The rays are in their whole length distinctly sepa- 

 rated into equal parts by the primary nerves, somewhat thicker than 

 the secondary ones, convex at the top of the ridges and concave at the 

 bottom of the carina?. The secondary veins, a little more than one milli- 

 meter distant, are also somewhat broad when seen through the thin, 

 smooth epidermis, and separated by three or four indistinct veinlcts. 

 The absence of the rachis with this specimen prevents any comparison 

 with fossil species of Palms. 



Habitat. — Chalk Bluffs, Nevada County. Professor J. D. Whitney. 



