FOX HILLS AND LOWEIt MEDICINE BOW 47 



.7 mm. apart; there appears to be a single finer voin between each pair of heavier ones; cross vcins 

 are eithcr totally absent or vcry obscure. Comparable fossil remains are usually referred to the 

 form genus Cyperacites. 



There is very Uttle significance to remains of this type cxcept to record the presence of addi- 

 tional monocotyledons in the plant association. 



Occurrence — Corson Ranch, Wyoming, Locs. P. 371, P. 372; north of Walcott, Wyoming, 

 Loc. P. 373; Craig, Colorado, Loc. P. 375. 



Collection—U. C. Mus. PaL, No. 1299. 



Family PALM/E 



Genus SABALITES Saporta 



Sabalites montana (Knowlton) Dorf, n. comb. 



(Plate 3, Fig. 2) 



Sabal monlana Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper 101, 2.53, pl. 32, %. 3, 1917; idem, Prof. Paper 130, 



119, pl. 3, fig. 4, 1922. 

 Sabalites grayanus (Lesquereux) Lesquereux (in part), Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., vol. 7, 112, pl. 12, fig. 1 



(not pl. 12, fig. 2), 1878; Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper 155, 36, pl. 9, fig. 5, 1930. 



The identification of the fossil palm leaves in the collections has led to considerable difficulty. 

 The large size of the leaves usually makes it impossible to procure perfect or even near-perfect 

 specimens. After an extended study of all available hving and herbarium specimens of palms at 

 The New York Botanical Garden, I have conchided, however, that better taxonomic use can be 

 made of fossil specimens in which the petiole and tlie adjoining basal rays are preserved. There 

 are a number of features which are consistently uniform in any given genus or species and are 

 consistently different in others. These features inchide (1) the character of the petiole: whether 

 unarmed or armed with thorny spines; whether flat, convex, or concave on its upper surface; 

 whether or not it is prolonged into a rachis; (2) the character of the rachis: short or long; straight, 

 convex, or concave sides; (3) the approximate number of rays adjoining the rachis or petiole. 

 With all of these features preserved, however, it does not seem advisable to refer the fossil forms 

 to modern genera unless at least one single leaf is found completely preserved. The ending -ites 

 can advantageously be added to modern famiUes or genera to indicate a close resemblance. In 

 Sahalites, as here used, a resemblance to the subfamily Sabaleae is impUed. 



The present species is represented by a large number of fragmentary specimens, of which the 

 figured specimen is the only one showing the basal portion of the blade. This cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from the type or figured specimen of what Knowlton caUed Sabal montana from the 

 Vermejo formation. In this species Knowlton justifiably included the specimens from the Mon- 

 tana group (Mesaverde formation) of Point of Rocks, Wyoming, which Lesquereux had desig- 

 nated as Sabalites grayamis. I am including also the specimen from the Denver formation which 

 Knowlton referred to Sabalites grayantis. This is different in many respects from the type of 

 S. grayanus (= Sahal grayana) from the Eocene of Mississippi,' but cannot be separated from 

 Sabalites montana. 



This species is also recorded from the Laramie formation, as indicated in the above synonymy. 

 The specimen from the Fruitland formation which Knowlton questionably referred to this species ^ 

 is definitely of an entirely different type. 



Occurrence — Corson Ranch, Wyoming, Loc. P. 372; Elk Mountain road, Wyoming, Loc. 

 P. 374. 



Collection—U. C. Mus. Pah, Plesiotype No. 1300. 



' Lesquereux, Leo, Am. Philos. Soc. Trans., vol. 13. 412, pl. 14, figs. 4-6, 1869. 

 2 Knowlton, F. H., U. S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper 98, 335, pl. 83, iig. 2, 1916. 



