PUOTEALES. 



209 



prominent midril). Pctinlc slioit and stout, 

 about 1 contiiiictcr in lciii;tli on the averages- 

 sized leaves, like the one liii'vired. Sceomlarios 

 thin, numerous, more or less sul)parallel, 

 branehing from the midrib at angles l)etween 

 40° and 45° at intervals of _' to 1 millimetei-s, 

 curving upward, camptodrome or easjxMh)- 

 drome, depending on \hc character of th(> 

 margin: in th(> region wiiere the margin is 

 toothed a secondary ends in each tooth, and 

 there are one or two, and in some ])laces more, 

 canij)toilromo secondaries betW(>en eacli eras- 

 pedodrom(> one. The areolation is math' up of 

 tiny isochametric, four, five, or six sided 

 areoles. The nuirgins are entire for a coji- 

 si(l(>ral)le distance below, about one-third of 

 th(Mr wliole length; above this point they show 

 irregularly spaced, serrate te(>th, wliich beconae 

 more prominent and aquiline-scri'ate in th(> 

 upper, narrower part of the leaf. 



This species is striivingly distinct when repre- 

 sented by complete specimens. Fragments, 

 however, are hkely to be confused with con- 

 temporary species of Dryoi)hyllum, Myrica, 

 Fraxinus, and the like. The attenuated ter- 

 minal portions of the leaves of Banksid saffordi 

 may be confused with Banlsia t<nul folia 

 Berr}', but where the margins are toothed and 

 not entire they may be distinguished by their 

 much more ])rominent aijuiline teeth. 



Lesquereux first tlescribed this specit^s from 

 SomervilJe,Tcnn., and, as he imagined that he 

 was dealing with a Pleistocene instead of a 

 lower Eocene flora, he naturally sought for 

 similar forms among recent species of Quercus, 

 Asa Gray having furnished him witli the leaves 

 of certain moth-rn species for comparison. No 

 very similar modern species were found, how- 

 ever. In his paper published in 188S he com- 

 pares it with Quercus furcineivis (Rossmassl(>r) 

 Unger, a widespread Tertiary species of Euro])e, 

 which appears for the first time in the Samioi- 

 sian and which is markedly distinct from the 

 American form. 



This misconception with regard to the 

 Pleistocene age of the specimen caused Les- 

 quereux to fail to recognize tlii^ very obvious 

 and close relationsliij) between liis Qucrnis naf- 

 foidi and the numerous European older Ter- 

 tiary species of Banksia described by Etting.s- 

 hauscn.Saporta., and others, and so elaborately 

 conij)aretl with tiie existing species of B.-mksia 

 by the first of these authors. It will l)e ])i-oi\l- 

 50243°— 10 11 



able to eompan^ tlie present .species witli some 

 of these forms. Fossil species of Proteaceic 

 are exceedingly common in Europe, and 

 numerous genera charactei'i/.e tlie Oligocene 

 lh)ras. Most of thes(> forms ap))eared in the 

 later Eocene and many of tliem sur\iv('(! the 

 close of tlie Oligocene, but they were cs])ccially 

 prominent during tliat epoch. Banhsia .vr//- 

 fon/i gi-eatly resemljles a grou]> of these Euro- 

 pean species, which inc'ludes Banksia ungerl 

 ICttingsiiausen,' Banksia liacringiana Ettings- 

 hausen,- Myncojiliyllum gracile Saj)orta,^ and 

 MiiricopligUuiii zacliariense Saporta.' Tliese 

 forms al)ound in the upper Eocene gypsifcrous 

 de])osits of soutlieastern France and in the 

 lower Oligocene in tiie leaf l)eds of Monte Pro- 

 mina, Dalmatia, llaering in the Tyrol, Sagor 

 in Carniola, antl in the lignites of Stj-ria, 

 where Sotzka is the most famous fo.ssil plant 

 locality. 



Most of the European forms are somewhat 

 smaller than Baiilsia saffordi and some are less 

 acinninate distad. Saporta's enlargement ^ of 

 Myricophyllum gracile, which is about twice 

 natural size, is almost exactly like Banlcsia 

 sati'ordi in outline, margin, and venation. An- 

 other fossil form which shows considerable 

 resemblance to the present species is Myrica 

 haiiksioides, described by Engelhardt " from 

 the Tertiary of Bolivia. On the whole, Banlsia 

 liamngiann Ettingshausen is most like the 

 American ])la]it. Numerous existing species of 

 Banksia in the Australian region are similar to 

 these fossil species, among which might be 

 mentioned Banksia sjmrulosa , B. coUina, B. 

 litioralis, B. aitcnuaUi, B. inarginata, and B. 

 serraia. 



A few American specimens have been 

 identified with European species of Banksia, 

 but tli(! ouly undoubted representatives of this 

 genus on this continent are this and the follow- 



' Ettingshausen, C. von, Die Proteaeeen der Vonvelt, p. 2,3, is.'il. 

 For figures of this species see I'ngcr, F., Die fossile Flora von Sotzka, 

 pp. .-iO, 39, pi. 6, figs. ,-!, 4; pi. 7, figs. 2-6, pi. 20, figs. 1-6, 1S50; and Ettings- 

 hausen, C. von, Die tertiiirc Flora von Hiiring in Tirol, p. ,54, pi. 17, figs. 

 1-22, pi. IS, figs. 1-6, 1852. 



3 Ettingshausen, C. von, Die Proteaeeen der Vorwelt, p. 23, pi. 2, 

 figs. 17, IS, LSol; Die tertiare Flora von Hiiring in Tirol, p. 5i, pi. 16, 

 figs. 1-2,1, IMS; Die eocene Flora des Monte Promina, p. 17, pi. 7, fig. 16, 

 ls.>i, and numerous other publications. 



2 Saporta, G. de, Etudes sur la vcgijtation du sud-est de la France it 

 I'cpoqpe tertiaire, vol. 1, p. 102, pi. 10, fig. 1, 1.S63. 



< Idem, vol. 1, pp. 176, 220, pi. S, fig. 2, 18Ki; vol. 2, p. 09, 1866. 



'Idem, vol. 1, pi. 10. fig. la. 



« Engelhardt, nermann, Xalurvviss. (Je.sell. Isis in Dre.sdcn .Vhh., 

 18X7, p. 36, pi. 1, figs. 10, 14; idem, 1.894, p. ,5, pi. 1, figs. 6, 7, 14, 17. 



