210 BERRY— LOWER EOCENE FLORA OF [April 25, 



three species in the Hgnites of Brandon. Vermont, two Ohgocene 

 species from Italy and five Miocene species from France, Switzer- 

 land and Bohemia. 



The family Bombacace£e^° with 20 genera and about 120 exist- 

 ing species is confined to the tropics and principally to the Amer- 

 ican tropics. The only known fossil forms are those of the genus 

 Bombax or the allied BombacipJiylluni and Bomhacites. Bomhax 

 Linne has about fifty existing species, all large tropical trees, and 

 almost confined to America. There is a single species in Africa, 

 about six in southern Asia and one in Austalia. The fossil species 

 number over twenty, the oldest known*° being a common form in 

 the Perucer beds (Cenomanian) of Bohemia and Moravia. There 

 are three species in the Ypresian of southern England and two well- 

 marked forms in the Wilcox flora. There are five additional Eocene 

 forms of which three are from Chili and two from eastern Australia. 

 There are five Oligocene species recorded from France, Saxony, 

 Bohemia and Carniola. The genus is represented in the early Oli- 

 gocene (Sannoisian) of southeastern France not only by the foliage 

 but by beautifully preserved flowers so that there is little ground for 

 questioning the correctness of the identifications. There are five 

 Miocene species in Bohemia, Croatia and Styria. 



The family Sterculiacese includes about 5 genera and 800 exist- 

 ing species of mostly tropical shrubs and trees with prevailingly 

 large, simple or digitately lobed or divided leaves ; the flowers are 

 sometimes apetalous and differ from those of the Malvaceae in their 

 2-celled extrorse anthers. Syncarpy is more or less complete. 



The Sterculiace?e of the existing flora are found on all the conti- 

 nents except Europe. The genera Sterciilia, Helictcres, Melochia, 

 Buettneria and Hermannia have species in both the eastern and 

 western hemispheres. The geologic history of the family extends 

 back to the base of the Upper Cretaceous but is confined to a rela- 

 tively few number of genera. The most abundant of these is the 

 genus Sterciilia Linne, which in the existing flora has about one 



39 Ettingshausen, " Ueber die Nervation der Bombaceeen," Dciisk. k. 



Akad. Wiss. U'ieii. Maih. Nat. CI, Band 14, 1858, pp. 49-62, PL I.-XL 



■^^ An Albian species of Bombax described by Fontaine is entirely 

 valueless. 



