358 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.83 



Order Personales 

 Family BIGNONIACEAE 



Genus PLEONOTOMA Miers 



PLEONOTOMA MIOCENICA, new species 



FiGUiiE 31, b 



Leaflets small, siibelliptical, slightly inequilateral, about equally 

 narrowed and rounded at botii ends. Margins entire. Texture sub- 

 coriaceous. Length about 4.5 cm. Maximum width about 1.8 cm. 

 Apparently sessile. Mid vein stout, prominent, curved. Secondaries 

 stout, prominent, four or five pairs, irregularly spaced, ascending, 

 camptodrome, connected by mostly simple transverse tertiaries. 



This species appears to represent the genus Pleonotom^a, not hith- 

 erto known as a fossil. The genus contains six or eight recent spe- 

 cies of climbing shrubs in the region between the Caribbean and 

 southern Brazil. Among these, P. jasminifoliwn (H. B. K.) INIiers 

 of the Venezuelan region appears to be most like the fossil. There 

 is also considerable similarity to the Brazilian species P. tetraque- 

 tmiii^ the Bignonia triphylla of Miers. The first is bipinnate and 

 the second trifoliate in habit. 



Occurrence. — Betijoque, District of Betijoque, State of Trujillo. 



Type.—V.S.'^M. no. 39308. 



Genus BIGNONIA Linnaeus 



BIGNONIA ZULIANA, new species 



Figure 31, o 



Leaflets petiolate, ovate, medium sized, widest medianly, sharply 

 pointed but not extended distad, pointed and slightly decurrent 

 proximad. Margins entire. Texture subcoriaceous. Length about 

 11.25 cm. Maximum width about 5.25 cm. Petiole mostly missing. 

 Mid vein stout, prominent, slightly curved. Lateral primaries one 

 on each side, suprabasilar, stout, diverging at acute angles and ter- 

 minating camptodromely in upper half of leaflet. There are three 

 or four regularly curved, prominent, camj^todrome secondaries in 

 upper half of leaflet. Tertiaries thin but well marked, numerous, 

 and camptodrome within the margins, transverse, simple, and curved 

 or sometimes inosculating. LTltimate areolation indistinct. 



This species, which suggests comparisons with certain lauraceous 

 forms, agrees more closely with various existing species of the 

 large tropical genus Bignonki and is approximated by existing forms 

 from various parts of South America. Among those seen the follow- 



