82 DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 



Sterciilia obtusiloba, Lesqx. 



Plate VIII, Fig. 3. 



Aralia tripartita, Lesqx., Haydeu's "Ann. Eep.," 1874, p. 346, pi. i, fig. 1. 



Leaves coriaceous, small, palmately tliree-lobcd ; lobes equal, liuear, obtuse, very 

 entire; secondary nerves obsolete. 



The only leaf I have seen of this species is figured. It is 7 centi- 

 meters long, 6 centimeters broad between the points of the lateral lobes, 

 which diverge at an angle of 25° and are cut down to about two-thirds of 

 the leaf. The medial lobe is a little narrower than the lateral (1 centi- 

 meter broad); the leaf is cuneate to the base and apparently a little decur- 

 rent to the petiole (broken); its surface is smooth. This leaf, following 

 the definition of the genus, represents a Sterculia. Its name was changed 

 accordingly. 



Hab. — Near Fort Harker, Kansas. Chs. Stemherfj. 



Sterculia aperta, sp. nov. 

 Plate X, Figs. 2, 3. 



Leaves subcoriaceous, palmately three-lobed, and triple-uerved from near tlie base; 

 lobes lanceolate, bluut at the apex; angle of divergence broad. 



This species is different from the preceding by the form of the broader 



lanceolate obtusely pointed lobes, the leaves not as thick and larger. 



Fig. 3 shows traces of secondary nerves equidistant and curving to the 



borders, the lower ones on the medial nerve being at right angles to it. 



These leaves are related to Sterculia labrusca, Ung., a species which, 



already present in the Eocene of France, is found also in all the stages of 



the Tertiary, including the Pliocene, in very variable forms. A number 



of specimens in the Museum of Gomp. Zool. of Cambridge represent a 



form which seems intermediate between this and the preceding. The 



leaves are 8 to 10 centimeters long, somewhat thick but not coriaceous, 



with lobes more or less diverging, linear-lanceolate, gradually narrowed 



above to a blunt point, nearly equal in length, 4 to 5* centimeters long, 



12 to 14 millimeters broad. 



Hab. — Kansas. Found at divers localities. Chs. Sternberg. 



