NO. 2270. MIOCENE FOSSIL PLANTS FROM PERU— BERRY. 291 



but exhibits a characterisLic venation exactly like that of the type. 

 Its reference to the genus Vochy<sia is questionable. 



The family Vochysiaccae, like its principal genus, Vochysia, is con- 

 fined to tropical America. Yochysia comprises about three score 

 existing species of trees, shrubs, or rarely herbs, with coriaceous 

 leaves, chiefly Brazilian and largely rain forest types, although one 

 section of the genus has become specialized for the dry steppe-like 

 country of the plateau of eastern Brazil. 



Order SAPINDALES. 

 Family ANACARDIACEAE. 



Genus TAPIRIRA Aublet. 



TAPIRIRA LANCEOLATA Engelhardt. 



Plate 15, fig. 1. 

 Tapirira lanceolata Engexhaedt, Abh. Senck. Naturf. Gesell., vol. 19, p. 15, 

 pi. 9, fig. 4, 1895. 



Description. — Leaflets apparentl}^ sessile, broadly lanceolate and 

 somewhat inequilateral in outline, with an acuminate tip and a 

 rounded or cuneate base. Length about 10 cm. Maximum width, 

 midway between the apex and the base, ranging from 2.5 cm. to 3 cm. 

 Margins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. Midrib stout and prom- 

 inent, slightly curved proximad. Secondaries numerous, somewhat 

 irregularly spaced, subparallel and camptodrome; angles of diver- 

 gence, 50 to 60 degrees. Tertiaries thin, mostly immersed. 



Material that is identical with that described by Engelhardt from 

 the interandean basin of Loja, in Ecuador, is contained in the collec- 

 tion from the Peruvian coast south of Tumbez. The genus Tapirira^ 

 as restricted in Engler's revision of the Anacardiaceae,^ contains 5 

 or 6 species of shrubs or trees with odd-pinnate leaves. They are 

 confined to tropical South America and are chiefly Brazilian. Engel- 

 hardt has compared the fossil with the existing Pao pombo, Tapirira 

 guaneTisis Aublet, which is widely distributed in the South American 

 Tropics, and which has leaflets that are practically indistinguishable 

 from those of the fossil. No other fossil representative of the genus 

 is known. 



Pleseotype.—C2it. No. 35331, U.S.N.M. 



Order THYMELEALES. 

 Family LAURACEAE. 



Genus MESPILODAPHNE Ness. 



MESILODAPHNE TUMBEZENSIS, new species. 



Plate 15, fig. 3. 

 Description. — Leaves of relatively small size, broadly lanceolate 

 and somewhat falcate in outline, with an acuminate apex and base. 



» NatUrlichen Pflanzenfamlllen, Tell 3, Abt. 5, pp. 138-178, 189fi. 



