EBENALES. 



337 



This small form is absolutely iiulistins^iiish- 

 able from many of the? loaves of the existing 

 West Indian species, Bumelia Itorrida Grise- 

 baeh, which is very mncli liivc tlie fossil in size, 

 texlure, petiole, and in all the observable details 

 of venati(>i\. That the modern form is a lineal 

 (U'scenthint of this early Eocene species seems 

 indisputable. 



Occurrence. — Lagrange formation (in beds of 

 Wilcox age), Puryear, llem-y County, Tenn. 

 (collected by E. W. Berry). 



Collection. — U. S. National Museum. 



Bumelia fsetjdotenax Ben\y, n. sp. 



Plato C, figure 2. 



Banksia helvetica Hcor. Lesquoreux, Am. Philos. Soc. 

 Trans., vol. 13, p. 418, pi. 16, fig. 6, 1869. 



Description. — Leaves small, obovate in gen- 

 eral outhne, practically sessile, tlie tip rounded 

 and the base narrowed, cuneate, or sUghtly 

 decurrent. Length about 4 centimeters. Max- 

 innim width, at or above the middle, about 1..3 

 centimeters. Margins entire. Texture coria- 

 ceous. Midrib rather stout but not prominent, 

 immersed in the leaf substance and generally 

 curved. Secondaries thin, inmiersed. four to 

 six alternate pairs, diverge a( angles of about 

 45°, curving more or less upward, cani|)toih'ome. 

 Tertiaries obsolete. 



This characteristic small leaf is very similar 

 to the leaves of some of the West Indian species 

 of Bumelia. It is perhaps most like Bumelia 

 tenax Willdenow, a tree of sandy soils near the 

 coast, which ranges nortliward from the Florida 

 Keys as far as North Carolina. Another very 

 similar extratropical species is Bumelia lanugi- 

 nosa Persoon, also a small tree, not common 

 but ranging from southern Georgia to Texas, 

 said to reach its maximum size and greatest 

 abundance in the river bottoms of eastern 

 Texas. In the Texas region the smaller obo- 

 vate leaves arc more like the fossil than are the 

 larger variants. The narrower leaves of Bu- 

 melia angustifolia Nuttall, a small tree of the 

 Bahamas, Florida Keys, and lower Rio Grande 

 VaUey, are also close to the fossil, and Bumelia. 

 cuiteata Svvartz (parvifolia De Candolle) of the 

 W>st Indies is also practically identical with it. 



Among previously described fossil forms it 

 is mu(^h hke several s]iecies usually referred to 

 the genus Persoonia of the Proteaoese. The 

 small leaf collected many yi';u-s ago 1)y Ililgard 

 and since lost was refeiTed by Lesquoreux to 

 50243°— 10 22 



Banlcsia helvetica Ileer. It is undoubtedly a 

 leaf of Bumelia pseudotenax Berry. The t^-pe 

 material of BaiiJcsia lielvetica' came from the 

 European Aquitanian aiul is very different from 

 the leaf from tlie AnuM-ican lower Eocene, some 

 of IIe<>r's sj)ecim<Mis distinctly showing a 

 serrated margin. 



A poorly preserved leaf from Calaveras Ci-eek, 

 Wilson County, Tex., is very similar in form 

 and venation to th(> species now under discus- 

 sion but is larger, measuring 5.5 centimeters in 

 length and 2 centimeters in maximum width. 



Occurrence. — Ackerman formation. Hurleys, 

 Benton County (formerly part of Tippah 

 County), Miss, (collected by E. W. Hilgard). 

 Holly Springs sand. Early Grove, Marshall 

 County, Miss, (collected i)y E. W. Berry). 

 Beds of Wilcox age, Calaveras Creek, Wilson 

 Coimty, Tex. (collected by .;\lcxander Deussen). 



( 'ollections.-^V. S. National Museum. 



Bumelia Americana (Lesquereux) Berry. 



Plate C, figure 6. 



Sapotucitcs (nncricanus. Lesquereux (not lloUick, lUOOi, 

 in Safford, Geology of Tennessee, p. 428, pi. K, 

 fig. 8, 1869. 

 Loughridge, Report on the geological and econoniic 

 features of the Jackson's purchase region, p. 197, 

 1888. 



Description. — Leaflets broadly elliptical, al- 

 most orbicular ht outhne, the ape.x deeply 

 emarginate and the base broadly pointed. 

 Margins entire, fuU, and evenly rounded. 

 Length .3 to 4 centimeters. Maxinunn width 

 2.5 to 3 centimeters in the middle ])art of the 

 leaf. Texture very coriaceous. Midrib very 

 stout and straight, prominent on the lower sur- 

 face of the leaf. Secondaries stout, prominent 

 on the lower surface of the leaf; four or five 

 alternate pairs branch from the midrib at 

 angles of 55° to 75°, curving upward and each 

 archmg to join its superadjacent secondary 

 some distance front the marghi. 



The type of this species, which is somewhat 

 more orbicular than the material subsequently 

 collected, was described by Lesquereux from 

 the de])osits of Grenada age south of Somer- 

 viUe, Tenn., at that time thought to be of 

 Pleistocene age. It was subsec|uently recorded 

 by lloUick- from (,'oushatta on Red River in 



1 Heor, Oswald, Flora tertiaria Helvetitc, vol. 2, p. 98, pi. 97, flits. ■! I- 

 4S; pi. 9S, flg. Ill, ISSr.. 



'- Ilollick, Artluir, in Harris, G. D., and Veatch, A. C, A preliminary 

 report on the geology of Louisiana, p. 2S7, pi. 42, fig. 3, 1.S99. 



