284 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.51. 



ZIZYPHUS OBTUSA Kirchner. 



Plate 16, fig. 3. 



Zizyphus obtusa Kirchner, Trans. St. Louie Acad. Sci., vol. 8 1898, p. 182, pi. 13, 

 fig. 1. 



Type.— Cat. No. 33,679, U.S.N.M. 



As the original figure of tliis species is rather poor, not being quite 

 correct as regards certain details of the nervation, it has been refig- 

 ured. It is certainly strongly suggestive of Lesquereux's Xanihoxy- 

 lon spireaefolium,^ especially his figure 2. 



Family VITACEAE. 



VITIS HESPERIA, new spedee. 



Plate 26, fig. 4. 



Leaf membranaceous in texture, strongly five-lobed, the lobes 

 ovate, accuminate, separated by deep rounded sinuses; base of leaf 

 deeply cordate, the sinus broad and rounded; margins of lobes entire 

 in the sinuses, coarsely toothed elsewhere, the teeth rather obtuse; 

 petiole strong, 3.5 cm. long; nervation palmately 5-ribbed from the 

 top of the petiole, the ribs straight, each ending in a large lobe, and 

 each provided with a few^ acute-angled secondary branches; finer 

 nervation obscure. 



Type.—Csit. No. 33,723, U.S.N.M. 



This splendid, nearly perfect specimen is 7 cm. in length, about 

 8 cm. broad between the tips of the two upper lobes, and 5.5 cm. 

 between the tips of the basal lobes. The strong petiole was at least 

 3.5 cm. in length, for at this point it passes oft' the matrix, but doubt- 

 less this was nearly or quite the end; it is a little more than 2 mm, 

 thick at the base and for the lower third of its length. 



Tliis leaf is by all odds one of the handsomest and best character- 

 ized of the many beautifully species from Florissant. It differe from 

 the only previously known Florissant species, Vitis fionssanteUa 

 Cockerell,^ in being nearly three times the length, and in having five 

 instead of only three lobes. It is just possible that Cockerell's species 

 may be a very smaU leaf of the present form, but they are so different 

 in size and general appearance that it is undoubtedly best to keep 

 them as distinct until the evidence for uniting them is stronger than 

 at present. 



So far as can be made out from the indistinct figure, the leaf de- 

 scribed as Riles protomelaenum Cockerell,^ might well belong to Vitis. 



This leaf is also suggestive of certain leaves of Morus cannahinus, 

 etc., but its agreement with Vitis is held to overbalance the others. 



1 Kept. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., vol. 8 (Cret. and Tert. Fl.), 1883, p. 196, pi. 40. 



2 Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 24, 1908, p. 102, pi. 7, fig. 18. 

 a Idem, p. 93, pi. 7, fig. 15. 



