ARALES. 



175 



referable to the genus C\^")erites, although he 

 remarks that they might e(|ually well be con- 

 sidered as fragments of pah a rays. 



I have found similar specimens at different 

 locaHties, but they are so lncomi)lete that they 

 have neither biologic nor geologic value. Any 

 iniprofitablo discussion of them is therefore 

 omitted. 



Occurrence. — Wilcox group, Slaughter Pen 

 Bluff on Cross Bayou, Caddo Parish, La. (col- 

 lected by G. D. Harris). 



Collection. — New York Botanical GarcU'u. 



Order ARALES. 



Family ABACEa;. 



Genus PISTIA Linne. 



PiSTiA wiLcoxExsis Berry, n. sp. 



PlateC^XIII, fi<rure4. 



Description. — Leaves elliptical in outline, 

 with a broadly rounded or slightly truncated 

 apex and a ])roadly roundetl l)ase. Petiole 

 missing. Length about 4.25 cul>ic centimeters. 

 Maximum width, in the median region, al)out 

 3.6 cul)ic centimeters. Margins entire. Tex- 

 ture of considerable consistency. Venation en- 

 tirely of a single caliber, fasciculate-flabellate, 

 forming by repeated and somewhat irregular 

 cross branches an open polygonal mesh. 



This species is Vjased on the single specimen 

 figured and its counterpart. It is unquestion- 

 ably referable to Pistia and is strictly com- 

 parable with the still existing forms of that 

 genus. It is clearly distinct from previously 

 described fossil forms of Pistia, although in size 

 and venation it is much lilce Pistia corrngata 

 described by Lesquereux from the Upper Cre- 

 taceous of the western interior region. 



In size, outline, and venation this Wilcox 

 species is not very different from the modern 

 Pistia stratiotes Linne, which occurs in the 

 coastal regions of our Gidf States and is com- 

 mon in tropical estuaries like tliat of the Guaya- 

 quil of Ecuador. Engler ' has united in this 

 smgle species all the living representatives of 

 the genus. The result of Engler's classification 

 makes tlris a somewhat variable and widely dis- 

 tributed species, in general confined to the 

 tropical and subtropical regions. In this coun- 

 try it is found from Florida to Te.xas. It occurs 

 in the West Indies and soutliward through 



1 Die Datiirlichen Pnanzen(amllien. 



Mexico and Central America to Paraguay and 

 noi'thcrn Argentina. In Africa it occurs from 

 Natal to Senegambia and Nul)ia, and also in 

 Madagascar and tlie Mascai'cn(> Islands. In 

 Asia, it appears througliout tlie East Indies and 

 nortiiward to (he Philippines. 



Pew fossil forms have l)een referred to tiiis 

 genus. Ilosius and \mi der Marck - described 

 in ISSO a form wliich tlicy called Pistites lon- 

 forinis from the Emscherian of Westphalia, but 

 this is pn)l)ably cycadean in nature, as Scliim- 

 per suggested.^ Lesquereux ' in 1876 named a 

 rcmarl<ably well preserved form from Wyoming 

 Pistia comujata, and later fully described and 

 illustrated it," his specimens including leaves of 

 different sizes and I'ootlets. These specimens 

 came from the Montana group, which is of 

 about the same age as tlie French beds from 

 which Saporta and Marion" described Pistia 

 mazelii. I liave recently showni ' that Heer's 

 ChomlropTiiillum nordenshioldi, described from 

 the Atane beds of Greenland, is a true Pistia 

 and is exceedingly abundant in the Black Creek 

 formation (Upper Cretaceous) of North Caro- 

 lina. The only Tertiary species previously 

 known is Pistia claihornensis Berry, described 

 recently ' from the upper Claiborne of Georgia. 

 Tliis species is markedly different from the 

 Wilcox species, being broad and retuse, ap- 

 f)roaching in these features some of the older 

 leaves of the existing American form. 



Occurrence. — Wilcox group, 4J miles south- 

 oast of Naborton, De Soto Parish, La. (col- 

 lected by O. B. Hopkins). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Genus ARACE^ITES Fritel." 



Arace^ites friteli Berry, n. sp. 



Plate CXIV, figures 3 and 4. 



Description. — Flattened remains, seemingly 

 of a large, many-fruited spiidix, wiiich may be 

 incompletely characterized as follows: Spadix 

 large elongate-cylindrical; the incomplete spec- 

 imen has a length of 6.5 centimeters and a max- 



2 Pateontographica, vol. 215, p. 182, pi. 3R, figs. 161-1,')2, 1880. 



3 In Zittel's nandbuch, p. 378, IS'JO. 



lU. S. Geol. anti GeoR. Survey Terr. Ann. Itopt. fur IS7I, p. 209, 1X7(1. 



'Lesquereux, Leo, The Tertiary flora, p. I0:i, pi. HI, figs. 1, 3-7, 9-11, 

 18S,3. 



* Saporta, Q. de, and Marion, .V. F., LVvulution du rfigno v<''g<?talc, 

 Phani^rogames, vol. 2, p. 37, figs. XUv, IHd, 18S5. 



'licrry, E. \V., Torrey Dot. Club Bull., vol. 37, p. 1811, pi. 21, figs, 1- 

 15, 1910. 



'licrry, E. W., U. S. Ceol. Survey Prof. Taper M, p. 137, pi. 20, 

 figs. 1, 2, 1914. 



» Fritel, P. U., Soc. g^ol. France Mem., vol. lu, no. 1, p. 28, I'.no. 



