No. 2388. TERTIARY FOSSIL PLANTS FROM VENEZUELA— BERRY. 561 



of these #re European and range in age from Oligocene through the 

 Mediterranean Miocene. They appear to have reached southern 

 Europe during the Oligocene, coming from eastern and central 

 Africa, since several are remarkably close to the existing Musa ensete 

 of Ab3 r ssinia, and consequently appear to have been ancestral to the 

 Old World genus Musa. 



The North American records include a form, Musophyllum com- 

 plicatum Lesquereux, which has a considerable distribution in the 



Fig. 1.— Heliconia elegans (englehardt) berry, betijoque. 



earlier Eocene of the present Rocky Mountain region, and a second 

 from the basal Eocene of Wyoming. The genus has not yet been 

 discovered in the Tertiary floras of the Atlantic or Gulf Costal Plain. 

 Aside from the actual resemblance between these fossil American 

 forms and the existing Eeliconias, it seems to me that general con- 

 siderations point to the conclusion that the genus Musa was never 

 present in the Western Hemisphere, despite the fact that it flourishes 

 27177— 21— Proc.K.M.vol.59 36 



