ADDITIONS TO THE FLORA OF THE WILCOX GEOTJP. 



17 



Bowerbank 2i from the abundant pyritized 

 fruits found in the London clay of Sheppey 

 (Ypresian). As elucidated bj^ Bowerbank the 

 genus Hightea possessed a one-celled valveless 

 pericarp with large 4 to 6 angled placena and 

 numerous down-bearing seeds, these fruits 

 having every appearance of being five or more 

 numerously valved capsules. Hightea is very 

 abundant at Sheppey, and Bowerbank de- 

 scribed no less than 10 so-called species, which 

 are subject to the same limitations as Perkins's 

 numerous species of MonocarpeUites. 



Although it is impossible to advance conclu- 

 sive opinions without having studied a large 

 suite of specimens, it seems probable that 

 Hightea and Monocarpfllitis are congeneric, 

 thus affording an important item for the corre- 

 lation of these three widely separated deposits, 

 valuable chiefly for the evidence it affords of 

 the age of the Brandon lignite, as the parallel- 

 ism between the London clay and the Wilcox 

 is already well established. 



Occurrence: Spink's clay pit, near Paris, 

 Henry County, Term. 



Family STERCULIA CEAE. 



Genus STERCULIA Linne. 



Sterculia wilcoxensis Berry, n. sp. 



Plate XIV, figures 1, 2; Plate XV, figures 3, 4. 



Sterculia puryearensis Berry, 1". S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

 Paper 91, pi. 72, fig. 3 (not other figures of this 

 species), 1916. 



Leaves (in discovered material) trilobate, 

 divided from one-half to two-thirds of the dis- 

 tance to the base into a median conical to 

 slightly ovate lobe and lateral, somewhat nar- 

 rower conical lobes. All are acuminate, and all 

 may be of equal length, or the median lobe may 

 be somewhat longer. The intervening sinuses 

 are open and rounded and of varying depth; 

 their degree of openness depends on the attitude 

 of the lateral lobes, for although the angle of 

 divergence of the lateral primaries with the 

 midrib is practically uniform, the lateral lobes 

 and the primaries forming their midveins may 

 be either incurved or recurved, as shown in the 

 accompanying illustrations. The margins are 

 entire and the texture coriaceous. Length 

 ranging from 12 to 16 centimeters; maximum 

 width, between the tips of the lateral lobes, 

 ranging from 9.75 to 15.25 centimeters and 



." Bowerbank, J. S., A history of the fossil fruits and seeds of the 

 London clay, p. 25, pis. 7-9, 1840. 



largely dependent on the attitude of the lobes. 

 The petiole was evidently long and stout; it is 

 preserved for 2 centimeters in one specimen. 

 The midrib is stout and prominent, approxi- 

 mately straight or variously curved. The 

 lateral primaries are approximately as stout 

 and prominent as the midrib. They diverge 

 from the midrib a considerable distance above 

 the base, at angles between 35° and 45°, and 

 are variously curved. The secondaries are thin 

 and not especially prominent: they are numer- 

 ous, regularly spaced, and subparallel, diverge 

 at wide angles, and are abruptly camptodrome. 

 The tertiaries are obscure. 



The present species is, on the whole, well 

 marked. It is in many ways similar to the 

 European Oligocene species Sterculia lahrusca 

 Unger 25 and, like that and most other living 

 and fossil species, may have varied to a fewer 

 or greater number of lobes, although all the 

 specimens known at present are trilobate. It 

 may be properly considered ancestral to the 

 Claiborne species Sterculia labruscoides Berry, 

 a somewhat smaller form with more conical 

 lobes and rounded base. 



A fragment of this species from Puryear, 

 Tenn., was figured in 1916 and referred to Ster- 

 culia puryearensis Berry. Recent collections 

 from Louisiana show that this fragment repre- 

 sents the present species, which is quite dis- 

 tinct from the much larger and more ovate 

 lobed and lobate Sterculia puryearensis. It 

 adds a second and striking representative of 

 this genus to the flora of the Wilcox group, in 

 which it is also represented by the fruits re- 

 ferred to the genus Sterculiocarpus. 



Occurrence: Puryear, Henry County, Tenn.; 

 collected by E. W. Berry. Goss pit, half a mile 

 east of Mansfield, De Soto Parish, La.; col- 

 lected by O. M. Ball. Carrizo sandstone half a 

 mile west of Carrizo Springs, Dimmit County, 

 Tex. 



Genus STERCULIOCARPUS Berry. 



Sterculiocarpus eocenicus Berry. 



Plate XV, figure 5; Plate XVI, figure 1. 



Sterculiocarpus eocenicus Berry, U. S. Geol. Survey 

 Prof. Paper 91, p. 288, pi. 74, figs. 1-3, 1916. 



The present specimen adds considerably to 

 our knowledge of this form. It is relatively 

 slightly longer and narrower than the type 



« Unger, Franz, Die fossile Flora von Sotzka, p. 45, pi. 2S, figs. 1-11, 

 1850. 



