BERRY: FOSSIL FRUITS FROM THE ANDES OF COLOMBIA 63 
places the uplift of this great mountain chain in late Tertiary 
times. Indeed the distributional evidence of the avifauna of 
Colombia, set forth in such a masterly way by Chapman (op. 
cit.), leaves little to be added in the future in the way of proof 
beyond confirmation, from a study of the past floras of the 
region—today a practically unknown field. 
Order GERANIALES 
Family SIMARUBACEAE 
Genus SIMARUBA Aublet 
Simaruba versicoloroides sp. nov. 
FIGs. 23-25 
Species based upon the crustaceous stones of a thin fleshed 
unsymmetrical drupe. ese are compressed so that their 
lateral diameter (maximum thickness) is about half their width 
and about one-third their leng The surface is conspicuously 
rounded proximad with a conspicuous scar one-third of the 
distance from the widest side. Distad they terminate as a 
blunt point, se profile when viewed from the side is therefore 
approximately elliptical, widest in the middle and slightly more 
narrowed distad than.proximad. When paige from ne edge 
tical, more broadly rounded toward the inside than the outside, 
the scar a - position of the inner foci of the ellipse 
toward its inner e 
Length 3.2 ribo aubueaaa width 2.0cm. Thickness 1.1 
cm. 
The identity of this well marked and characteristic drupace- 
ous stone has proved somewhat of a puzzle but it appears to be 
referable to the genus Simaruba and doubtless with adequate 
recent material for comparison could be closely matched among 
existing species. Among these in so far as comparisons have 
been possible, it most closely resembles Simaruba versicolor 
St. Hil., a Brazilian species, and this resemblance is recognized 
in the specific name proposed for it. 
The genus Simaruba of the family Simarubaceae has about 
6 existing species, confined to the warmer parts of the Western 
