INCERT.E SEDIS. 



227 



well preserved and characteristic, and can scarcely be anything 

 but the remains of a cycadean fructitication. 



Occurrence. — Locality unknown. 



Collections. — N. Y. Botanical Garden. 



Genus PHYLLITES Sternberg.^ 

 (Fl. d. Vorw., vol. I, 1823, p. 39.) 

 Phyllites trapaformis sp. nov. 

 Plate XX, Figs, i, 2. 



Description. — Leaf very small, elliptical in outline, 6 mm. in 

 length, by 4 mm. in greatest width, which is about half way 

 between the apex and the base. Petiole missing (if ever present). 

 Base evenly rounded. Margin entire in the lower half of the 

 leaf, but broken to form five relatively large dentate teeth distad, 

 the central one, which is the largest and most prominent, 

 constituting the pointed apex of the leaf. Outside lateral teeth 

 smallest, and separated by a rounded sinus from the inside lateral 

 teeth, which, in turn, are separated from the apical tooth by shal- 

 low angular sinuses. Venation delicate, consisting of a thin 

 midrib and craspedodrome secondaries branching from near the 

 base on each side and running to the lateral teeth. From these 

 there branch, from near their point of insertion on the outer 

 side, camptodrome veins of the same calibre. Shorter, inwardly- 

 directed veins branch higher up. There are one or two' thinner 

 camptodromie marginal veins deployed along the lower outer 

 margin of the leaf. 



This well-characterized little leaf, if it is a leaf, suggests vari- 

 ous existing leaflets, such as those of Spircea, Thalictrum, etc., 

 as well as the floating leaves of some Cretaceous species allied 

 with the modern genus Trapa. There is the further possibility 

 that the present form may represent either a floral or vegetative 

 bract of some Cretaceous species of unknown botanical afiinity. 



Since the type of this useful form-genus is probably a species of Populus,. 

 it is probable that it will eventually have to be abandoned. 



