23-4 BERRY— LOWER EOCENE FLORA OF [April 25, 



in Eurasia and North America but represented in Mexico, and with 

 a single species in Peru. Over fifty fossil species have been de- 

 scribed. There are at least twelve in the Upper Cretaceous, all con- 

 fined to North America and ranging from Greenland to Alabama. 

 There are about a dozen Eocene species in America, Europe, and the 

 Arctic, one of these is sparingly represented in the Wilcox flora. 

 Oligocene records are few in number but over 25 Miocene species 

 have been described, the genus being particularly abundant at this 

 time throughout central Europe but also represented in both North 

 America and Asia. About five Pliocene species are recorded from 

 Spain, France, Italy and Japan and the genus has afforded Pleisto- 

 cene material in New Jersey, Holland, England, etc. 



The genus Nyssa Linne (including also Nyssidium Heer and 

 Nyssites Geyler and Kink.) comprises about seven existing species 

 ranging from shrubs to large trees, natives of southeastern North 

 America and eastern and central Asia. It has furnished over fifty 

 fossil forms, the majority being based on the characteristic costate 

 stones. The oldest known forms are from near the base of the 

 Upper Cretaceous (Dakota, Tuscaloosa) of North America. By 

 Eocene time Xyssa had reached Alaska, Greenland and Europe. 

 There are two characteristic species in the Wilcox, both based on 

 stones, and a third occurs in the overlying deposits of the Claiborne 

 group. In the lignite deposit of Brandon, Vermont, of uncertain 

 but probably early Tertiary age, no less than eighteen so-called 

 species of stones have been described, and while doubtless the specific 

 differentiation is overrefined, it emphasizes the abundance of Nyssa 

 in New England at that time. Xyssa is abundant in the European 

 Oligocene and there are Miocene species in New Jersey, Virginia, 

 Europe, and Asia ; and a Pliocene species occurs in Alabama. Some 

 of the modern species are common in the Pleistocene of this country 

 from New Jersey southward. 



While much remains to be learned regarding the history of the 

 Cornacea.' it seems clear that the two genera Coniits and Nyssa which 

 have yielded fossil forms are both types that appear to have origi- 

 nated in North America during the Cretaceous. 



No family of the Choripetal?e has succeeded in maintaining a 



