TERTIARY PLANTS FROM VENEZUELA — BERRY 343 



and F. loilcoxensis Berry from the lower Eocene of southeastern. 

 North America. It is also much like F. jynx Unger from the Oligo- 

 cene of the Tyrol in Europe. 



Among recent species, as already stated, it is much like F. mneri- 

 cana Aublet from equatorial America. It is also similar to the( 

 leaves of Pseudolmedla Trecul, a Caribbean genus of Moraceae. 



Type. — Upper Eocene: About three-fourths of a kilometer south 

 of Santa Barbara and 2^/^ kilometers east of Los Barrosos, District 

 of Sucre, State of Zulia. U.S.N.M. no. 39282. 



THE MIOCENE PLANTS 



Phylum PTERIDOPHYTA 



Order Polypodiales 



Family POLYPODIACEAE 



Genus MENISCIUM Schreber 



MENISCIUM WOLFI Engelhardt 



Figure 28, d, e 



Meniscium wolfi Engelhaedt, AWi. Seiick. Naturf. Ges., vol. 19, p. 38, pi. 3, 

 figs. 12-17, 1895. 



This handsome species was described from the Cauca Valley, Co- 

 lombia, by Engelhardt, who compared it with the living Menisciy/m 

 reticulatwtn Swartz, a form that ranges from Jamaica to Peru and 

 Brazil. After comparison with a large quantity of recent material, 

 I am satisfied that Engelhardt's comparison is as good as any that 

 could be made, although I find M. folustre Raddi to be equally close. 

 The latter ranges from Central America through northern South 

 America to Brazil. 



There is considerable fossil material from Betijoque, and the 

 accompanying enlarged sketch (fig. 28, e) shows clearly the venation 

 and also the shallow marginal sinuses between the denticulations 

 that mark the endings of the lateral veins. 



The genus Menisovmn is confined to the American Tropics. Sys- 

 tematic students of modern ferns usually follow Christensen's ad- 

 mirable monograph - in considering it a subgenus of DryopteTis. 

 For geological purposes, where dependence has to be placed on form 

 and venation, it is preferable to give generic rank to several of 

 these subgenera, such as Lastrea., Gonioyterls.^ and MenisciuQii., since 

 they go back certainly to the dawn of the Tertiary and contain a 

 large number of forms and are not a compact or closely enough 

 related series either biologically or geographically to fall within 



2 Christensen, Carl, Saertryk af. Biol. Arbej. tilegnede Eug. Warming, 1911. 

 50992—36 2 



