128 



LARAMIE FLORA OF THE DENVER BASIN. 



Golden specimen shows it to have come from 

 the andesitic beds, probably on South Table 

 Mountain, and no less than 11 additional exam- 

 ples were found by Lesquereux in the collec- 

 tion from these beds determined for the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology. This species has also 

 been reported by Ettingshausen in the flora 

 from Alum Bay, England. 



A number of well-preserved leaves apparently 

 belonging to this species have been found in the 

 material from Converse County, Wyo. They 

 do not diff'er essentially from the type speci- 

 men sho\vn in Lesquereux's figure 11. 



The basal portion of what appears to be a 

 small leaf of this species has been found in 

 material from Mount Bross, Middle Park, Colo., 

 and a rather narrow but otherwise nearly nor- 

 mal leaf is contained in the small collection 

 made in the Laramie at Crow Creek, Colo. 



Occurrence: Laramie formation, Canfield 

 ranch on Crow Creek, about 25 miles northeast 

 of Greeley, Colo., collected by F. H. Knowlton 

 and T. W. Stanton, June, 1896. Post-Laramie 

 (in my opinion), Black Buttes, Wyo. Den- 

 ver formation, Sand Creek, 18 miles east of 

 Denver, Colo, (type) ; Golden, Colo. Lance 

 formation, gulch south of Lightning Creek, 

 opposite mouth of Box Elder Creek, Converse 

 County, Wyo., collected by T. W. Stanton, 

 July, 1896. 



Order TJBTICALES. 



Family MORACEAE. 



Artocarpus lessigiana (Lesquereux) Knowlton. 



Plate XII, figure 1; Plate XXII, figure 4. 



Artocarpni les^giana (Lesquereux) Knowlton, Science, 

 vol. 21, p. 24. 1893; U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 152, p. 

 42, 1898. 



Myricaf lessigiana Lesquereux, U. S. Geol. and Geog. Sur- 

 vey Terr. Bull., vol. 1, p. 386, 1876; idem, Ann. 

 Kept, for 1874, p. 312, 1876. 



Myricaf lessigii Lesquereux, Tertiary flora: U. S. Geol. 

 Survey Terr. Rept., vol. 7, p. 138, pi. 64, fig. 1, 

 1878; U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. Ann. 

 Rept. for 1876, p. 503, 1878. 



Leaf very large, coriaceous, oblong, deeply 

 pinnately lobed, the lobes opposite, oblong- 

 lanceolate, pointed, at an open angle of diver- 

 gence, separated usually to a point near the 

 midrib, where they are joined by broad, 

 rounded sinuses; midrib very thick; secondaries 

 of two orders, the first strong, ascending to 

 the points of the lobes and branched on either 



side, the second snialler, emerging from the 

 midrib between the others, passing up to the 

 sinus, where they divide into two branches 

 that arch around the sinus just inside the 

 margin and then follow the lobes in festoons, 

 anastomosing with the tertiaries; tertiaries 

 numerous, alternate, curved more or less in 

 passing to the margin, along which they form 

 long festoons just inside the border; ultimate 

 areolation in the main quadrangular, formed 

 by divisions at right angles to the tertiaries. 



These magnificent leaves were from 20 to 30 

 centimeters or more long and from 12 or 15 to 

 18 centimeters wide. They are thick, probably 

 coriaceous, and broadly oblong, and the lobes 

 are connected by broad, rounded sinuses. 



This species was first described by Lesquereux 

 under the name Myrica? lessigiana from 

 material collected on Coal Creek, Boulder 

 County, Colo., where it was found just above 

 the coal. It was obtained, according to 

 Lesquereux, by Gen. W. H. Lessig, for whom 

 it was named. For many years the location 

 of the type specimen was unknown, but recently 

 it came to light among the collections donated 

 to the United States National Museum by 

 R. D. Lacoe, of Pittston, Pa., and is now No. 

 7172 of the Museum collection. It was with 

 great doubt that tliis specimen was referred to 

 Myrica by Lesquereux, '° who says: 



It is doubtful if this leaf represents * * * ^ 

 species of the section of the Comptonia. It resembles 

 Comptonia grandifolia Unger, which till now has been 

 considered as the giant representative of this section but 

 whose leaf is scarcely half as large as this. 



The reference of these leaves to thfe genus 

 Artocarpus was first suggested by Nathorst " 

 in his paper describing a new species of the 

 genus from the Cenomanian of Greenland. 

 After discussing a number of poorly defined 

 fossil species and describing the new form 

 {A. diclcsoiii), which he was fortunate enough 

 to find associated with undoubted fruits, he 

 calls attention to its resemblance to and 

 possible identity with the Aralia pungens and 

 Myricaf lessigii of Lesquereux. A compari- 

 son of these leaves with loaves of living species 

 of Artocarpus, particularly of the common 

 breadfruit {A. incisa), proves beyond reason- 

 it Lesquereu-x, Leo, U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. Ann. Rept. 

 tor 1874, p. 312, 1876. 



" Nathorst, A. G., Ueber die RestecinesBrotfruchtbaums: K.svenslcs 

 Vet.-Akad. Handl.,vol. 24, p. 7, 1890. 



