200 



LOWER EOCENE FI.OHAS OF SOUTHEASTERN NUliTlI A.-ME1!ICA. 



Thus far tluwo loaves have oiilv l)eeii found 

 in the later Wilcox of the western embayment. 

 That tliev, a-s well as severid otlier forms, are 

 not rejiresented in the very large collections 

 from the Wilcox deposits of the eastern embay- 

 ment would seem to indicate a slightly different 

 floral facies to tiie westward and also an appar- 

 ently freer interniigrational communication 

 with the Rocky Mountain province. 



Knowlton in IS'JS raisetl tills variety of 

 Lesquereux to specific rank, but it seems to me 

 to differ from Ficus phmicnstat-a merely in a 

 varietal way. Ficus phinicostuta is certainly a 

 variable form and it may possibly be poly- 

 morphous. I would not l)e sur])rised if the 

 Wilcox varietj' maxima represented the western 

 type, whose larger size antl more robust form 

 merely reflected the optimum conditions along 

 the Wilcox coast, since it differs from the west- 

 ern planicostata in the same respect that the 

 Wilcox htifolia differs from the Vitifolia. of 

 Colorado. 



Occurrence. — Wilcox group, Shreveport, Cad- 

 do Parish, La. (collected by O. B. Hopkins). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Frcus ARTOCARPoiuES Lesquereux ? 



Plate XXXIV, figure 2. 



Finis artocarpouks. Lesquereux, The Cretaceous and 

 Tertiary floras, p. 227, pi. 47, figs. 1-5, 1883. 

 Hollick, in Harris, G. D., and Veatch, A. C, A pre- 

 liminary report on the geology of Louisiana, p. 281, 

 pi. 3.5, fig. 4, 1899. 



Description. — Leaves large, elhptical, sub- 

 coriaceous, rounded distad and broacUy rounded 

 or subcordate proximad; midrib thick; sec- 

 ondaries numerous, thin, curved, ascending, 

 camptodrome; and tertiaries numerous, fine, 

 pcrcurrent. 



This species was doubtfully determined from 

 Louisiana by Hollick in 1S99. Xo new mate- 

 rial has been coUocted, so that the species is 

 included in tlie present work with a query, 

 although as far us the incomplete material goes 

 it is identi'-ij with the western specimens, 

 which come from the "Badlands of Dakota," 

 now known to be in the Fort Union furinalion. 

 It tdso occurs in the Raton formation. 



Occurrence. — Wilcox group, one-fourtli of a 

 mile above Coushatta, Red River Parish, La., 

 (coUecteil by A. C. Veatch). 



Collection. — New York Botanical Garden. 



Frcus PSEUDoropuEUs Lesquereux. 

 Plates XXXVII, figures 3-5; CXIII, figure 3. 



Ficus pseudopopulus. Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. and (Jeog. 



Survey Ten-. Ann. Kept, for 1874, p. 313, 187G. 

 Lesquereux, The Tertiary flora, p. 204, pi. 34, iigs. 



1, 2, 1878. 

 Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper (MS.). 



Description. — Palmately veined leaves of 

 mediinn si/.c, broadly ovate in general outline, 

 narrowed and uctnninate at tlie apex, broadly 

 rounded or truncate, and more or loss (h^ciuTent 

 at the l)ase. Length about 12 or 13 centi- 

 meters. Maximum width, at or below the 

 middle, about 6 to 7 centimeters. Margins 

 entire. Textiu-e subcoriaceous. Petiole stout, 

 cm"ved, about 1..5 centmietei-s in length. 

 Primaries tliree, curved, the midrib stouter 

 than the laterals. Lateral primaries, one on 

 each side, diverging from the midrib just above 

 the top of the petiole at angles of about 20°, 

 ascending, and camptodromely joining a sec- 

 ondary two-thirds or more of the distance from 

 the base to the tip. Secondaries from the 

 upper half of the midrib, four or five alternate 

 curved pairs, diverging from the midrib at 

 acute angles, becoming subparallel with the 

 lateral margins distad, and arching along them 

 in a camptodrome manner. Secondaries from 

 the outer side of the lateral primaries, about 

 seven on each side, thin and camptodrome, the 

 lowest on each side longer, stouter, and more 

 ascending than the others, diverging at or just 

 above the top of the petiole. Tertiaries thin, 

 percurrent at right angles to primaries and 

 secondaries. 



This well-marked species of Ficus was 

 described by Lesquereux from Evanston, Wyo., 

 and is very abundant in the Raton formation of 

 the southern Rocky Moimtain province. It is 

 markedly distinct from the other figs known 

 from the Wdcox group, the oidy remotely 

 simdar form being Ficus planicostata maxima 

 Berry, recorded from Caddo Parish, La. It is, 

 however, a type common in the lower Eocene 

 of the Rocky Mountain jirovince, where it is 

 represented by Ficus occidcntalis Lesquereux' 

 anil by some of the forms of Ficus spectahilis 

 Lesquereux- and Ficus planicosfata. clintoni 

 (Lesquereux) Knowlton.' The Wdcox species 



1 Lesquereux, Leo, The Tertiary nora, p. 200, pi. 32, Hg. 4, 1878. 



2 Mem, p. 1119, pi. 33, Hbs. 4-0. 

 a Idem, p. 202, pi. 33, figs. 1-3. 



