MALVALES. 



289 



forms, the present species is so similar to the 

 cap.suk's m the genus Sezanella, akeady men- 

 tioned in the discussion of Sterculwcarpus eo- 

 ceiiicu.s, that I have commemorated this re- 

 scmbhince in the specific name. The present 

 sjx'cies is apparently a rare form in the Wilcox 

 deposits, which may possibly indicate that it was 

 tlu' fruit of an niland species of Sterculiaceffi. 

 The abundance of different sized leaves of 

 StdTulia pun/carensis Berry in the same beds 

 rather incUcates that the foliage and fruit are 

 not those of the same botanic species, for they 

 would liardly have come to rest in the same 

 beds, or if the nature of the fruits was such that 

 they would smk as quickly as the foliage there 

 should be an abundance of fruits instead of a 

 single specimen. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange formation (in beds 

 of Wilcox age), Puryear, Henry County, Tenn. 

 (coUected by E. W.'Bcny). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Family BOMBACACE^. 



Genus BOMBACITES Berry, n. gen. 



BoiiBACiTES FORMOSUS Berry, n. sp. 



Plate LXXV, figure 1. 



Description. — Leaves palmately compound. 

 Leailets relatively large, broadly lanceolate in 

 outline, somewhat mocjudateral and falcate, 

 sessile or slightly petiohdate. Apex and base 

 about equally acute, the base if anything a 

 trifle more extended and slightly decurrent to 

 the broad base of the petiolule just above its 

 attacliiuent to the leaf stalk. Length about 

 8 centimeters. Maximum width, at a point 

 midway between the apex and the base, about 

 2.5 centimeters. Texture thick and coria- 

 ceous. Margms entire m the lower half; the 

 upper half contains small dentate or serrate 

 teeth, somewhat irregularly spaced and sepa- 

 rated by shallow, equilaterallv rounded sinuses. 

 Midrib stout, more or less curved. Seconda- 

 ries thin, subparallel, not prominent, nine or 

 ten opposite to subopposite pairs, branching 

 from the midrib at angles that average about 

 65°, curving upward near the margm ui broad 

 camptodrome arches. Tertiary venation im- 

 mersed m the leaf substance. 



In the existing flora the subfamily Adan- 

 soniese of the family Bombacaceas is made up of ■ 

 the folloMong genera: Adansonia Limi6, which 

 includes the baobab of Africa and two or three 

 additional species of Madagascar and North 

 50243°— 16 19 



Australia; Bombax Linne, which comprises 50 

 species, mostly of tropical America, though one 

 liv(>s m Africa, six in Asia, and one in North 

 AustraUa; Chorisia Humboldt, Bonpland, and 

 Kunth, wiiich conlauis thi'ee tropical species 

 of South ^imerica; and Ceiba Gartner, which 

 embrat-es about 10 species of Central and South 

 iVnierica, includuig the widely cultivated silk 

 cotton tree of tropical countries. 



All the forms have digitately compound 

 leaves, the leaflets of which are rather largo and 

 entire or toothed. The present sf)ocies is 

 clearly referable to this subfamily and is very 

 close to several existmg species of tropical 

 America of the genera Bombax and Chorisia. 

 Because of the uncertainty as to which of these 

 modern genera it is most like, and the prob- 

 ability that the generic limits were different 

 in the early Eocene, the generic term Bom- 

 bacites is proposed for the reception of this and 

 other fossil species which are clearly referable to 

 this sulifamily ])ut which can not be positively 

 referred to one of the existing genera. 



Fohage of the type of Bombacites occurs in 

 abmidance in the upper Eocene of Europe, and 

 a few species contmue m that area throughout 

 the Tertiary period. Species referred to Bom- 

 bax have been recorded from the Cretaceous of 

 America by Fontame ' and from that of Europe 

 by Velenovsky.- Fontaine's form has abso- 

 lutely no claim to the name Bombax and 

 Valenovsky's form is extremely doubtful. 



A number of the European species are very 

 similar to the present form, includuig Bombax 

 neptuni Ettingshausen,^ recorded from the 

 Sannoisian Mayencian, and Sarmatian, which 

 is probably closest to the American Eocene 

 species and has the same general form, margin, 

 and venation but is slightly wider; next m 

 degree of affinity is Bombax chonjivxfolium 

 Ettingshausen,^ which comes from the base 

 of the Miocene in Bohemia and which diffei"s in 

 its more prominent and dose-set teeth and 

 more extended petiolule; Bombax chorisioides 

 Friedrich,^ recorded from the Sannoisian of 

 Saxony, has more prominent serrate teeth; 



1 Fontaine, W. M., U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 1.5, p. 310, pi. l",!, fig. 1, 

 1889 (Bombaz virginiensis). 



2 Velenovsky, Josef, Die Flora der bohmlsehen Kreideformation. Theil 

 1, p. 20, pi. 2, flgs. 17-19; pi. 4, fi.KS. 6-9, 18.83 (Bombaz argillncmm). 



' Ettingshausen, 0. von, Beitriige zur Kenntniss der fossilcn Flora 

 von Radoboj, p. 886, pi. 3, fig. 17, 1870. 



< Ettingshau.sen,C. von.DiefossileFloradesTcrtiar-BeckensvonBilin, 

 Theil 3, p. 11, pi. 42, figs. 2, 4. .5, 1869. 



^ Friedrich, I'aul, Beitriige zur Kenntniss der Tertiarflora der Pro^■inz 

 Sachsen, p. 144, pi. 19, fig. 5, 1883. 



