8 PROCEEDINGS OP THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vot. 66 



Order PERSONALES 

 Family VERBENACEAE 

 Genus AVICENNIA Linnaeus 



AVICENNIA NITIDA Jacquin 



Plate 3, figs. 1, 2, 6 ; plate 4, fig. 1 



Leaves of the black mangrove of various sizes are common in the 

 Oropouche clays. These agree perfectly with the leaves of the exist- 

 ing species, from which they can not be differentiated. In the mod- 

 ern flora the species is a widely distributed maritime form ranging 

 from peninsular Florida through the Antilles to Brazil. 



The only other fossil occurrence known to me is based upon leaves 

 and fruits foimd in the lower Eocene Wilcox formation of southeast- 

 ern North America.'^ 



PUsiotypes.—CKt. Nos. 37031-33, U. S. N. M. 



INCERTAE SEDIS 

 PHYLXJTES OROPOUCHENSIS, new spedtti 



Plate 1, fig. 3 



The present nominal species is based upon two specimens in which 

 the carbonaceous film representing the leaf is more or less impreg- 

 nated with salts of iron. These represent an oblong ovate leaf with 

 a bluntly pointed tip and a cuneate base. The texture is coriaceous 

 and the midvein very stout. The secondaries are thin, numerous, and 

 subparallel, diverging from the midvein at a rather wide angle and 

 running with but slight curvature toward the margins. Their end- 

 ings or other details of the venation cannot be made out and it is 

 therefore impossible to reach a decision as to whether the fossil 

 should be referred to the Guttiferae or the Sapotaceae. It appears 

 to be certainly referable to one or the other of these families and is 

 particular suggestive of certain Caribbean species of the genera Rke- 

 edia, Calophyllum, and Chrysophyllian, to one or the other of which 

 it, in all probability, belongs. Doubtless future collections will settle 

 this point. 



Holotype.—Csit No. 37034, U. S. N. M. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES 

 Plate 1 



Figs. 1.2. Palm ray. Fig. 2 enlarged X4 to show venation, 



3. Phyllites oropouchensis, new species. 



4. Persea americana Miller 



5. Conocarpus erectus Linnaeus. 



» Berry, E. W., U. S. Geol. Survey Trof. Paper 91, p. 347, pi. 104, ttg. 6; pi. 107, flg. 4, 

 1916. 



