VON Ettingshausen. — Fossil Flora of Neiv Zealand. 279 



sub angulis acutis exeuntihus, simplicihus vel ramosis, inter se 

 conjunctis ; reticulo obsolete. 



Locality: Shag Point (Canterbury IVIuseum). [Ex Coll. 

 N.Z. Geol. Surv., Rep. 1872 ; v. Haast, I.e.] 



There is no doubt that the fossil leaves shown in figs. 

 13-14 belong to Aralia. Of the petiole shown in fig. 14, a 

 fragment 29mni. long has been preserved, but as it is broken 

 off at the lower end it is certain that it was longer. The 

 substance of the leaf must have been more leathery than 

 lierbaceous, to judge from the impression and from the 

 charred remains. The larger lobes are narrowed at the base 

 as in many species of Aralia, whereby peculiar rounded in- 

 cisions are formed in the lamina. The edge of the lobes is 

 partly provided ^vith small lobes, or partly irregularly bluntly 

 serrate. The nervation shows three or five principal nerves, 

 of \Yhich the centre one is a little more prominent. The 

 lowermost side-nerves unite in fig. 13 just above the base, 

 and consequently there exist here, at the base only, three 

 principal nerves : this does not seldom occur in species of 

 Aralia. The secondary nerves start atsomewdiat acute angles; 

 at the middle nerve stronger ones alternate with finer ones on 

 both sides ; from the side base-nerves the stronger secondary 

 start principally at the outer side ; these and their branches 

 run principally into the points of the lobes and larger serra- 

 tions : where this, however, is not the case they form loops. 

 The tertiary nerves are rather pronounced, and traverse the 

 surface of the leaf, as in leaves of Aralia, and, as in these, they 

 show also the same distance from each other. The reticula- 

 tion is not preserved, but traces of it indicate loose meshes 

 as in the leaves of Aralia dissecta, Lesq., and similar related 

 species (vide enlargement of nervation, fig. ISa). 



The fossil deviates, in consequence of the more numerous 

 lobes and nerves which run to the edge, from the somewhat 

 similar lobate Ficiis leaves — for instance, those of F. carica. 



Of the species of Aralia known at present, I can name only 

 .1. dissecta, Lesq., of the North American Tertiary flora, to 

 which the species described comes remarkably near. A. dis- 

 secta is distinguished from our species by the smaller number of 

 ]mncipal nerves, and the lesser development of the lobes. 



LOKANTHACE^. 



Lora,nthus otagoicus, sp. nov. 



Plate XXVIII., fig. 2. 

 L.foliis coriaceis brevitcr j^ctiolatis, ovatis, basi rotundatis, 

 apice obtusis, integerrimis ; nervationc acrodroma, nervo pjrimario 

 basi promin&nte, apicem versus s^cbevanescente ; nervis sccun- 

 dariis basalibus sub angulis 4(P-5(P cum primario divcrgcntibus, 

 reliquis inconspicuis . 



