﻿GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY OF THE CANAL ZONE. 41 



per Cretaceous of Westphalia. The only known Eocene species is 

 the well-marked form present in the lower Eocene of the Mississippi 

 embayment region (Wilcox Group.) F"our Oligocene species have 

 been described from Bohemia, Styria, and Egypt; four Miocene 

 species from Switzerland, Prussia, and Croatia; and a Pliocene 

 species from Italy. 



Occurrence. — Culebra formation, upper part. East wall of Gail- 

 lard Cut just north of Canal Zone station 1760. (Collected by M. I. 

 Goldman.) 



Order EBENALES. 



Family EBENACEAE. 

 Genus DISOPYROS Linnaeus. 



DIOSPYROS MACDONALDI, new species. 



Plate 18, figs. 4-S. 



Description. — Globose berry-like fruits of small size and consider- 

 able consistency, possibly preserved in an unripe state since the flesh 

 is stringy and with a great many tannin cells. The great abundance 

 of these fruits in the andesitic tuffs makes it seem more probable, 

 however, that they are mature, particularly as some are greatly flat- 

 tened. The numerous elongated pendulous seeds and the amount of 

 vascular fibers in the flesh would tend to prevent much compression 

 in a certain number of cases. Diameter 12 to 15 mm. Flesh hard, 

 very tanniferous, and with numerous fibers. Seeds 8 to 10 in number, 

 oblong, elliptical, compressed, with a hard seed coat. The interior 

 of the seeds is filled with amorphous silica and fails to show any 

 structure. Seeds about 7.5 mm. long, averaging 3 mm. high and 1 

 mm. to 2 mm. thick, very unequally developed, one to three usually 

 more or less abortive. Peduncle not preserved, nor do any of the 

 specimens show the calyx. 



These seeds are exceedingly abundant and more or less perfectly 

 silicified, the flesh being dark brown and the seeds white, making 

 very striking objects. They are clearly referable to Diospyros and 

 so far as I know represent the only known petrified fruits of this 

 genus, although the persistent calices are not uncommon as impres- 

 sions from the Upper Cretaceous onward. The modern species have 

 from 4 to 12 compressed seeds which tend to become less numerous 

 ffith. the increase in the fleshy part of the fruit, so that possibly these 

 more consistent and prevailingly 10-seeded fossil fruits may represent 

 an earlier stage in their evolution, although this seems doubtful 

 since the calyx of a very large fruited form is known from the Upper 

 Eocene of southwestern Texas. 



