240 BERRY— LOWER EOCENE FLORA OF [April 25, 



beds of Bohemia and the Credneria stage of southern Saxony (Ceno- 

 manian). Three of these Upper Cretaceous forms are from the 

 Tuscaloosa formation of Alabama and undoubtedly represent the 

 ancestors of some of the Wilcox forms. There are about ten re- 

 corded species of Sapotacites in the Eocene of Australia, France and 

 southern England. There are about a score of species in both the 

 Oligocene and Miocene, most of which are European. There is, 

 however, an undescribed species in the Apalachicola group of west- 

 ern Florida. In the Pliocene there are species in southern Europe 

 and on the island of Java. 



Notwithstanding the incompleteness of the record it is obvious 

 that the family became well differentiated during the Upper Creta- 

 ceous and while it would not be safe to assign its place of origin to 

 the American region, it is probable that at least several of the genera, 

 such as Bumclia for example, originated in this region. 



The family Ebenaceae includes about eight genera and upwards of 

 three hundred existing shrubs and trees, of which over half are 

 referred to the genus Diospyros Linne. The family is mainly trop- 

 ical as are most of the species of Diospyros, but the latter is repre- 

 sented in the north temperate zone in eastern North America, east- 

 ern Asia, and the Mediterranean region. The three modern mono- 

 typic genera, Tetraclis, Brachynema and Rhapidanthe are confined 

 respectively to Madagascar, Brazil and West Africa and none have 

 been found fossil. The genus Roycna is mostly South African; 

 Euclca is entirely confined to Africa: Mdba, a large genus, ranges 

 from Africa eastward to Polynesia; and Macreightia is common to 

 tropical Africa and America. 



Diospyros with about 180 existing species is cosmopolitan. Be- 

 tween 90 and 100 fossil forms have been described. In that grand 

 display of dicotyledonous genera which during the mid-Cretaceous re- 

 placed the old Mesozoic flora of ferns, cycads, and conifers and which 

 appeared with such apparent suddenness at a number of points in the 

 northern hemisphere, we find unmistakable evidence of the abun- 

 dance and wide distribution of species of Diospyros. No less than 

 seventeen different forms have been described from the rocks of this 

 age, and the localities where they have been found are scattered 



