172 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.59. 



was extensive. The fossil species comprise three from the Tertiary 

 of Java, one from the Tertiary of Sumatra, one from the Tertiary of 

 Australia, a sixth from the Upper Cretaceous of the Mississippi 

 embayment region, and a seventh from the Denver formation (basal 

 Eocene) of Colorado. It is apparent that the family has been present 

 in America since Upper Cretaceous times, and the hosts of modern 

 species of the American Tropics would seem to indicate a vigorous 

 evolving Tertiary series of forms. The two species from the Ter- 

 tiary of Costa Rica are the first later Tertiary forms found in this 

 hemisphere, and I might add that collections made from the high 

 Andes in Bolivia contained a variety and great abundance of leaves 

 of fossil peppers. 



Comparisons have been instituted with the leaves of various 

 Menispermaceae, Tiliaceae, Leguminosae, Dioscoreaceae, etc., which 

 suggested analogies with these fossils, and they are found to be 

 clearly referable to the Piperaceae. 



Holotype.— Cat. No. 35461, U.S.N.M. 



PIPERITES QUINQUECOSTATUS, new species. 

 Plate 22, fig. 2. 



Description. — Leaves of smaller size than in Piperites cordatus 

 Berry, cordate in general outline, with an acuminate tip and a more 

 deeply cordate base. Margins entire, full, and evenly rounded. 

 Texture subcoriaceous. Length, about 7 cm. Maximum width, in 

 the lower part of the leaf, about 6.25 cm. Petiole missing. Midrib 

 stouter than the lateral primaries which are two on each side. All 

 are fairly prominent on the under side of the leaf. The lateral 

 primaries are not aerodrome as in the preceding species but join a 

 branch from the upper secondaries. Secondaries thin but well 

 marked, camptodrome. Tertiaries thin forming an open mesh. 



The salient features of this species are well shown in the accom- 

 panying illustration. It is clearly distinct from the preceding and 

 is less common in the collection. It also may be closely matched 

 by several existing American species. 



Eolotype— Cat. No. 35462, U.S.N.M. 



Order URTICALES. 

 Family MORACEAE. 



Genus F1CUS Linnaeus. 



FICUS TALAMANCANA. new species, 



Plate 23. 



Description. — Leaves elliptical in general outline, with an apiculate 

 acuminate tip and a decurrent base, of relatively large size but 

 shorter and wider than the associated leaves of Anona costaricana. 

 Margins entire and full. Texture subcoriaceous. Length, ranging 



