220 



SHORTER CONTEIBUTIOXS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1921. 



great display of Aralla-Wke forms in the middle 

 Cretaceous both of this coimtry and of Europe, 

 and these forms are especially abundant in 

 the Dakota sandstone of the West. Compari- 

 sons with existing plants are not so satisfactory, 

 although man}^ tropical Araliaceae show sug- 

 gestive resemblance. The Moraceae in the 

 genus Arfocarpiis and its allies also show many 

 similar features. 



This most striking species of Aralia, liecause 

 of its large size, has always been found in a 

 fragmentary condition. Specimens showing all 

 parts of the leaf have now been collected both 

 from Maryland and from Kansas, and these 

 conclusiv(>ly confirm the restoration of this leaf 

 made by nie in 1903. They also confirm the 

 supposition based on the venation of the New 

 Jersey material, that instead of a l)roadly ovate 

 median lobe, as Heer supposed, this middle 

 lo})e was sublobate hy the greater or less de- 

 velopment of a lateral lobe on each side, as 

 shown in the accompanying illustrations. The 

 species may be more fully defined in the light 

 of all the material as follows: Leaves large, 

 ranging from 1(3 to 21 centimeters in length and 

 from 19 to 23 centimeters in maximum widtli, 

 oi'bicular in general outline, deeply pinnate- 

 lobate. Apex of tlie terminal and lateral lobes 

 bluntly pointed. Base broadly cuneate. Mar- 

 gins entire. Texture sut)coriaceous. Lol)es 

 usually seven, separated by relatively narrow 

 ultimately rounded sinuses, comprising an 

 ovate medium terminal lol)e and two main 

 latefal lol)es on eacli side, the lower pair being 

 more or less divided. In the Maryland mate- 

 rial tlie auxiliary lobe on the lowersid(M)f each 

 main lateral lol)e is fi'ei)ly developed. In the 

 Greenland material it is at least half as large as 

 the main lobe, and the separating sinus extends 

 halfway to the base. Petiole stout, its full 

 lengtii unknown. Midi'ib very stout and j)rom- 

 inent, straight. Lateral pi-imaries two on each 

 side, stout and prominent, the lower pair sub- 

 opposite and su]5rat)asilar, the upper pair in 

 some specimens subopposite, more commonly 

 separated by ;i wide interval. The lower 

 primary may fork a shoi-t distance al)ove its 

 base, as it does in the Greenland material at an 

 interval of only al>out 1 ci'iitimetei', or this 

 fork may be at least 4 centimetei-s above the 

 base, as in the Maryland material, the distance 

 depending on the extent to which the auxiliary 

 lobe is develo])ed. The angle of divergence of 



the primaries from the midrib is about 40° but 

 varies from specimen to specimen; the basal 

 pair is in general somewhat more divergent than 

 the upper pair. The secondary and tertiary 

 venation is usually ol)solete. Some specimens 

 show a few thin remote secondaries diverging 

 from the primaries at angles of about 45° and 

 sweej)ing upward in ascending camptodrome 

 curves. 



The C'heyenne sandstone material is not 

 abundant. It comes from the left bank of the 

 middle liranch of Champion (Wildcat) Draw, 

 half a mile south of Belvidere (2229) and the 

 rigiit bank of the same branch (2231). 



Aralia newberryi Berry. 



AmlUi nrwhirryi Berry, Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 34, p. 



201, pi. 15, fig. 1, 1907; New Jersey Geol. Survey 



Bull. ;i, p. 197, 1911. 

 AmlUi pnlmata Newberry, Mora of the Amboy clays, p. 



117, pi. .39, figs. 6, 7; pi. 40, fig. Z, 1896 (notLamarck). 

 Berry, New York Bot. Garden Bull., vol. 3, p. 93, pi. 



44, 1903; Torrey Bot. Club Bull., vol. 31, p. 79, pi. 



4, fig. 12, 1904. 

 Arallii rotitudilohu HoUick, New York Acad. Sci. Annals, 



vol. 11, p. 421, pi. 38, fig. 2, 1898. 

 AraVia pnhjni<iri>ha Newberry, Flora of the Amboy clays, 



p- lis, pi. 39, figs. 1-.5, 1896. 

 Aralia sp. lloUick, New York State Mus. Ann. Rept., vol. 



55, p. 1.55, 1903. 



Leaves very variable in size and outline, 

 palmately three to five lobed. Lobes conical, 

 obtusely rounded. Sinuses open, sli allow, 

 rounded. Margins entire, somewhat undulate 

 l)asally- Petiole long and stout. Midril) stout, 

 more or less curve<l or flexuous. Primaries 

 three to five, from the base, prominent, run- 

 ning to the tips of the lobes. Secondaries very 

 slender, camptodrome. The middle lobe is 

 usually longest and broadest, and the basal 

 lateral lobes may be reduced to subordinate 

 and but slightly marked parts of the main lat- 

 eral lobes. 



The relative develoiiment of the apical or 

 basal lol)es and the depth of the intervening 

 sinuses greatly alter the appearance of these 

 leaves. Some are symmetrical and others de- 

 cidedly unsymmetrical; some are preeminently 

 three lobed and sublobate and others are five 

 lobed witii additional incipient lobes. The 

 variations are almost exactly comparable with 

 the similar variations in the leaves of the mod- 

 ern Sa.-indfras, Stercidid, and Araliaceae. 



There seems to be no basis for maintaining 

 the distinctions between the forms united in 



