68 



SnOETHE CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL CEOI.OGY, 1916. 



Order URTICALES. 



Family ULMACEjE. 



Genus ULMUS Liim6. 



Ulmus basicordata Hollick. 



Plate XII, figure 2. 



Ulmns basicordata. Uollick, Miocene, p. 484, fig. If, 

 >rar>-Uin<l Geol. Survey, 1904. 



This characteristically small Ilmus was com- 

 pared by Holhck with the cosmopolitan Planera 

 ungeri Ettingshausen, especially with the type 

 material ' from the late Miocene of Austria. 

 This protean and probably composite species 

 has a recorded range from the Eocene to the 

 Ph^istocene and a geographic distribution from 

 Japan and Manchuria throughout Europe to 

 North America, Iceland, and Greenland. It 

 has been recorded by me from the Calvert 

 formation at Richmond, Va., and that material 

 is certainly quite distinct from Ulmus basicor- 

 data, what-ever may be thought of some of the 

 European records of Plain ra ungeri. 



In my judgment ZJlrmis basicordata finds its 

 closest Europ(vin relative in Ulmus minuta 

 Goeppert.- Tliis little species has been re- 

 corded from a large nmnber of European 

 localities, ranging in age from the middle Mio- 

 cene to the Pliocene. Tlie American Ulmus 

 basicordata. may t)e compared more particularly 

 with the material t>f Ulmus minuta, from the 

 Tortonian of Baden, on the Swiss border, de- 

 scribed by Heer.' 



Occurrence: Richmond, Va., and Good Hope 

 Hill, D. C. 



Order ROSALES. 



Family ROSACEJE. 



Genus PHYLLITES of authors. 



Phyllites cercocarpifolia Berry, n. sp. 



Plate XII, figiire.s 3, 4. 



Leaves small, obovate, with a broadly 

 rounded tip and a cuneate base. Length about 

 6 millimeters: maximum width, slightly above 

 the middle, about 3.5 millimeters. Margins en- 

 tire, possibly shghtly revolute. Textui-e dis- 

 tinctly coriaceous. Petiole short and stout, 



1 Ettingshausen, Constantin, Fossiie Flora von Wien, p. li, pi. 2, 

 flgs. 5-lS, 1S51. 



2 Goeppert, H. R., Tertiiirc Flora von Schossnitz in Schlesien, p. 31, 

 pi. 14, figs. 12-14, 1855. 



5 Heer, Oswald, Flora tertiaria llelvetiae, vol 2, p. 59, pi. 79, figs. 9-13, 

 1856; vol. 3, p. 181. pi. 151, fig. 30, 1859. 



less than 1 milhmeter in length. Midrib rela- 

 tively stout and promment. Secondaries thm 

 but prominent, numerous, equally spaced and 

 subparallel; about seven or eight subopposite 

 pairs diverge from the midrib at acute angles 

 and pursue a nearly straight ascending course 

 to the margins, where they are abruptly camp- 

 todrome. Tertiaries obsolete. 



Tills tmy leaf suggests a relationship with 

 the genus Cercocarpus, of the Rosaceae, and 

 the resemblance is so great that I feel justified 

 in referring the fossil to that family. Cerco- 

 ctxrpus is a small genus of about five species 

 of trees and shrubs confined to the dry mterior 

 and mountainous regions of the United States 

 and Mexico. Tlie fossil greatly resembles the 

 entire leaves of Cercocarpus brevifiorus Grtiy, a 

 small tree of the pine and oak forests of the 

 dry elevated ridges of southern Arizona, New 

 Mexico, western Texas, and northern Mexico. 

 Although I do not feel justified in referring the 

 fossil to Cercocarpus without more conclusive 

 evidence I beheve that the resemblance noted 

 indicates such a relationship. 



Occurrence: Benning road, D. C, near 

 District line. 



Family CffiSALPINIACEJE. 



Genus CASSIA Linne. 



Cassia toraformis Berry, n. sp. 



Plate XII, figures 6, 7. 



Leaflets small, sessile, inequilateral. Apex 

 broad, ineciuilateral, slightly emarginate. Base 

 V)road, .slightly pointed, inequilateral. ^largins 

 entire. Leaf substance thin. Length about 

 15 millimeters; maximum width, slightly below 

 the middle, 7.5 millimeters. Midrib of medium 

 size, nearly straight. Secondaries thin, about 

 seven pairs, diverging from the midrib at acute 

 angles, those in one-half of the lamina more 

 acute, sweeping upward in ascending sub- 

 parallel curves, parallel with the lower lateral 

 margins, camptodrome. Tertiaries thin, of 

 the Cassia type. 



This species appears to be a new species of 

 Cassia, although it iwAy represent an allied 

 genus of the Ca?salpiniacese. Among the 

 hundreds of existing species there are a number 

 very similar to the fossil, which I have named 

 from its resemblance to the existing Cassia 

 tora Linne, an annual of sandy soils ranging 



