164 



SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GE(3L0GY, 1!>21. 



the genus Ficus, where they properly belong, 

 they find their affinity in the group which 

 inchules, among others, such fossil species 

 as Ficus elonf/atd Hosius, Ficiis hi'rfJioudi Les- 

 quereux, Ficus su.tpccta \'elenovsky, and FIciis 

 Icrausiana Heer. 



This species has been found to be variable in 

 size, ranging in length from 1 1 to 22 centimeters 

 and in width from 1.9 to 3.7 centimeters. It is 

 usually widest in the lower half of the leaf, 

 although in some specimens the base is narrow 

 and the widest part is toward the middle. In 

 all unequivocal material the up])er half of the 

 leaf is narrow and is produced as a long, slender, 

 commonly recurved tip, which is one of the 

 characteristic features of the species. This tip 

 is strictly comparable with the "dripping 

 points" developed f«i various modern leaves 

 in the regions where precipitation is heavy-. 



Ficus (]aphito(/< noidis is a widespread and 

 common form, rangmg from Marthas Vineyard 

 to Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas in the 

 Atlantic Coastal Plain and from the Northwest 

 Territory to Kansas and Nebraska in the 

 Western Interior region. 



It is a member of the Dakota sandstone 

 flora and does not occur in tiie older Cheyenne 

 sandstone so far as my oi)servations go. It was 

 reported by Ward from the Cheyenne sand- 

 stone at Chatman Creek, Kans., but Ward's 

 material, which I have before me, is not this spe- 

 cies but a leaflet of Sapindopsis. Kn<)wlt<)n''' 

 has recently tentatively identified this form 

 fr<tm the type section of the Morrison formation 

 at Mtirrison, Colo. The species is not uncom- 

 mon in the Woodbme sand at Ai'thurs Bluff, 

 Tex. 



Ficus glascoeana Lesquereux. 



Ficus (/Uiscoeana LcsqiRTeux, U. S. (ii'oi. Survey Terr. 

 Rept., vol. 8 (Cretacoous and Tertiary floras), p. 48, 

 1S83; U. S. Geol. Survey I\f(m. 17, p. 7(i, pi. 13, figs. 

 1, 2, 1891 [1892]. 

 Knowlton, U. S. Geol. Survey T\vcp.ty-tir.st Ann. Rejit., 

 pt. 7, p. 317, 1901. 



Leaves large, oblong-ovate in geiuM-al outline, 

 with an ol)tusely pointed apex aiul a l)roadly 

 rounded or cuneate, ultimately slightly de- 

 current base. Length from IS to 20 centi- 

 meters; maximum width, at or below the 

 midcUe, 6.5 to 7.5 centimeters. Margins entire. 

 Texture coriaceous. .Surface poli.shed. Peti- 



'» Knowlton, F. H., Am. Jour. .Sci., 4th ser., vol. 4SI, \>. 1911, 1920. 



ole missuig. Midrib very stout and promi- 

 nent on the under surface of the leaf. Secon- 

 daries numerous, thm, diverging from the 

 midrib at wide angles, subparallel, straight, 

 ascending, joining one another by alirupt 

 curves subparallel with and close to the niar- 

 gms. 



This species, which is of the same general 

 type as Ficus afavina Heer,,-° was describetl by 

 Les([uereux from material collected 24 miles 

 south of Ctlascoe, Kans. So far as known it is 

 confined to the Dakota sandstone and to the 

 Woodbine sand at Arthurs Blufl', Tex., and the 

 remains were usually much broken before 

 fossilization. Ficus atavina, which is closely 

 related to it, was also a stiff form, usually 

 found ui a broken condition. It has an ex- 

 tensive range, occurring in the Atane and 

 Patoot beds of Greenland, the Magothy for- 

 mati(Ui and the Middendorf arkose member of 

 the Black Creek formation in the Atlantic 

 Coastal Plam, the Turonian of Bohemia, and 

 the Gosau l)eds of Tyrol. It seems very prob- 

 able that Ficus (jiascocaiia is genetically re- 

 lated to the more widely distributed Ficrts 

 atavina. 



Order PLATANALES. 



Family PLATANACEAE. 



Genus PLATANUS Linne. 



Platanus lalior (Lesquereux) Knowlton. 



Plataniis arcroidrs? Goeppert var. latior Lesquereux. Am. 

 Jour. Sci., 2(1 ser., vol. 4(1, p. 97, 18fi8. 



Flatanus latior (Lesquereux) Knowlton, T'. .S. Geol. Sur- 

 vey Bull. 152, p. 170, 1898; U. S. Geol. Survey 

 Twenty-lir.st Ann. Rept., pt. 7, p. 314, 1901. 

 Berry, XT. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 112. p. 84, 1920. 



Platanus iirimacva Lesquereux, The ('retaceous flora, p. 09, 

 pi. 7. fig. 2 ; pi. 2G, fig. 2, 1 874 ; The flora of the Dakota 

 group, p. 72, ])!. 8, figs. 7, Sli; pi. 10, fig. 1, 1892. 



Leaves l;irge, palmately trilobate, broadly 

 rhomlioidal. Length about 17 centimeters; 

 maximiun width about l.'i centimeters. Mar- 

 gins somewhat irregularly dentate, entire at the 

 broadly cuneate base. Lateral lobes short; 

 intervening sinuses s-carcely differentiated. 

 Petiole long and stout. Primaries stout, three 

 in munlier, diverging at or near the base in the 

 material from Alabama ])ut commonly supra- 

 basilar in the forms from the Dakota sandstone. 

 Venation strictly phitanoid. Texture coria- 

 ceous. 



MHeer, Oswald, Flora fos.silis arctica, vol.6,Abt. 2, p. 69. pi. 11, flgs. 

 5b,7b,Sb; pi. 17, fig.. Sb; pl.l9,flg.lb; pi. 20, flgs. 1,2,1882. 



