LANCE FLORA OF EASTERN WYOMING 143 



Family MENISPERMACE.E 



Genus MENISPERMITES Lesquereux 



Menispermites belli Berry 



(Plate 11, Fig. 4) 



Menispermiles belli Berry, Canada Geol. Surv. Mem. 182, 36, 1935. Dorf, Bull. GeoJ. Soc. Amer., vol. 51, 



218, 222, 225, 1940. 

 Ficus asarifoUa Ettingshausen. Lesquereux, Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., vol. 7, 207, 1878. Knowlton, 



U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 163, 49, pl. 11, fig. 4, pl. 13, fig. 2, 1900. 

 Ficus asarifolia winor Lesquereux, Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., vol. 7, 208, pl. 61, figs. 18-21, 1878. New- 



berry, U. S. Geol. Surv. Mon. 35, 85, pl. 67, figs. 5, 6, 1898. 

 Fious sp., Knowlton, Proc. Washington Acad. Sci., vol. 11, 207, 1909. 



ThLs well-defined leaf form is represented in the collections by 4 well-preserved specimens, of 

 which the figured specimen is the most nearly complete. There are also 2 good specimens of it 

 in the collections from the Lance Creek area in the U. S. National Museum.' 



The original figured specimens of Ficus asarijolia ininor Lesquereux were obtained from the 

 upper Mesaverde group at Point of Rocks, Wyoming. Additional specimens were subsequently 

 obtained from the same locality by Knowlton, who referred the specimens with much hesitation 

 to Ficus asarifolia Ettingshausen. Knowlton also recorded the presence of a specimen of this 

 species from the Black Buttes collection at the U. S. National Museum. I have consulted both 

 the Mesaverde and Black Buttes specimens at the National Museum and find no essential dif- 

 ferences between them and the Lance Creek specimens. Berry has recently obtained identical 

 leaves from the Whitemud formation of Saskatchewan, and has synonymized all previously re- 

 corded specimens in the species Menispermites belli Berry. 



As pointed out by both Knowlton and Berry, there is an unmistakable resemblance of these 

 leaves to the modern family Menispermacese. 



Occurrence — Locality P3853. 



Collection—\]. C. Mus. Pal., Plesiotype No. 2519. 



Menispermites cockereUi (Knowlton) Dorf, n. comb. 

 (Plate 11, Fig. 2) 



Ficu^ cockerelli Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 696, 273, 1919; U. S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper 130, 132, pl. 12, 



fig. 2, pl. 23, figs. 1, 2, 1922. Dorf, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 508, pt. I, 55, pl. 7, fig. 2, 1938; BuII. 



Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. 51, 218, 222, 225, 1940. 

 Ficus lalifolia (Lesquereux) Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Surv. BuU. 152, 102, 1898; U. S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper 



101, 304, 1917. [Homonym, Kunth, Ind. Sera. Hort. Berol., 1846.] 

 Ficu.'^ planicostata latifolia Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Terr., Ann. Rept. (1872), 393, 1873; Rept. 



U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., vol. 7, 202, pl. 31, fig. 9, 1878. 



This species is represented in the collections by 2 fairly complete leaf impressions and several 

 fragments. The 2 better specimens are slightly larger than the original type specimen from Black 

 Buttes, Wyoming, though differing in no other way. They are essentially similar in observable 

 details to the larger leaves figured by Knowlton from the Laramie flora. 



In the Rocky Mountain rcgion, this species is now known reliably from abundant specimens 

 in the Laramie, Medicine Bow, and Black Buttes floras, from fewer specimens in the Lance flora, 

 and doubtfully from a single fragment in the Raton flora. 



As was pointed out in the discussion of Ficus cockerelli in my cited report on the Medicine 

 Bow flora, the relationships of these leaves to modern genera or species are uncertain; they seem 

 to resemble the Menispermacese more closely than any other family examined. 



Occurrence — Locality P3853. 



Collection—V. C. Mus. Pal., Plesiotype No. 2520. 



Menispermites knightii Knowlton 



(Plate 10, Fig. 11) 



Menispermites knightii Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Surv. BuU. 163, 61, pl. 15, fig. 2, 1900. Dorf, Bull. Geol. Soc. 

 Amer., vol. 51, 218, 222, 225, 1940. 



' Specimens No. 1002 (1462). 



