184 



LOWER EOCENE FLORAS OF SOUTHEASTER. \ NORTH AMERICA. 



marj' beuig present in each wing. The jiri- 

 inarios arc rclativelv verv stout and continue 

 with hut slight attenuation to tlie tips of the 

 wings. No subordinate jiriniaries or discord- 

 antly directed secondaries are present, as in 

 some of the European Tertiary species. Sec- 

 ondaries numerous, thin, nuu-e or less parallel, 

 about 12 to 1.5 pairs to ea<'h wing, alternate. 

 The secondaries branch from the midvein at a 

 wide angle, which becomes progressively less 

 distad, where they are placed at shorter inter- 

 vals and are more regularly curved, campto- 

 drome throughout. Tertiaries extrenudy fine, 

 formmg small arches just inside the inargin 

 and more or less rectangular meslies within the 

 spaces bounded by the secondaries. Margins 

 strictly entire throughout. The essential por- 

 tion of the fruit is poorly preserved and partly 

 broken away, as is the rule in the fossil species of 

 this genus. It appears to have been of consid- 

 erable consistency, and the whole fruit having 

 fallen face downward the reflexed wmgs raised 

 the peduncular portion, which either rotted 

 away before fossilization or more probably was 

 broken off when the specimen was collected. 



Among previously described Tertiary forms 

 this species is most similar to Engellianltia 

 irongniarti Saporta,' a species recorded from 

 Spam, France, Italy, Germany, and Austria- 

 Hungary and supposed to range from the 

 Oligocene to the Pliocene. The American 

 species is somewhat larger than most speci- 

 mens of EngeViardtia hrongniarti, although Un- 

 ger has figured forms of that species from 

 Sotzka, in Stjo-ia, which are not much different 

 m size. The wings are more spreading and the 

 outlines are much more elegant in the present 

 species. In the European form the wmgs are 

 rounded apically as in the Airierican, but they 

 have approximately the same width through- 

 out and do not taper downward as in Engel- 

 Tiardtia mississippiensis. The secondaries, m- 

 stead of being regular and camptodrome as in 

 EngeViardtia mississipjnensis, are less numer- 

 ous and more irregular in position, several in 

 each whig ascending from the base for consid- 

 erable distances approximately parallel with 

 the midvein, as in our Claiborne species. 



Among the existing species with which it has 

 been compared Engelhardtia mississippiensis 



'Saporta, G. de, Etudes sur la v4g^tation du sud-cst de la France k 

 l'4poque tertiaire, vol. 2, p. 343, pi. 12, fig. 5, 18C5. 



is very similar to most of the described ori(>ntiU 

 forms, perhaps resembling EngeViardtia spicata 

 Blume more closely than tlie others. This 

 species ranges from tlie northwestern Huna- 

 layan region tlirough Burma to Java and other 

 East Indian islands. Comparative mati'rial of 

 Oreomunnca is very scarce. A single fruit in 

 the National Herbarium is closer to the fossil 

 than are any of the Asiatic species, but hi the 

 absence of more material the limits of variation 

 in Oreomunnca are unknowni. 



In a general way the fruits of Engelliardtia 

 are not uidike those of Carpimis. There seems 

 to be little occasion for confusion, however, 

 even in poorly preserved fossil material. The 

 fruit jn-oper is decidedly different, although this 

 is seldom well enough preserved in fossils to be 

 decisive. The inv(ducre is also markedly dif- 

 ferent in the two genera. The involucres of 

 Carpinus are generally smaller and the median 

 whig much wider aiitl longer than the lateral 

 wings and with somewhat different venation. 

 The margins are also toothed, whereas in En- 

 gelhardtia they are invariably entire. I have 

 examined fruits of all the existhig species of 

 Carphius and experience no difficulty in readdy 

 disthiguishing them from those of Engelhardtia, 

 the American species of Carpinus being espe- 

 cially different in appearance from those of 

 Engelhardtia. I have seen involucres of the 

 Old World Carpinus hetulus from trees cidti- 

 vated in this country in which the margins of 

 the wings were entire or nearly entire, but the 

 aspect of the specimens as a whole, because of 

 their different proportions and venation, was 

 markedly unlike Engelhardtia, and if they had 

 been found as fossils no competent paleobota- 

 nist would have been at a loss regarding their 

 botanic affi^nity for a single instant. 



The leaves described under the name of En- 

 gelhardtia ettingsliaus(ni Berry are found in as- 

 sociation with these fruits and also at other 

 localities m the Wilcox group, where the fruits 

 are absent, but they probably represent the 

 same species. A second species of Engel- 

 hardtia based on fruits is found ui the WUcox, 

 and a third species occurs in the lower Claiborne 

 deposits of southern Arkansas. 



Occurrence. — Holly Sprhigs sand, Early 

 Grove, Marshall County, Miss, (collected liv 

 WJMcGee). 



CoUection. — -U. S. National Museum. 



