Z PEOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 73 



LITHOSPERMUM FOSSILIUM GLABRUM, new variety 



Plate 1, Figures 11-13 



This variety is less abundant than th*e preceding and is known only 

 from Kansas. In form the nutlets are asymmetrical fusiform, being 

 always larger and relatively longer and narrower than var. 7%igo- 

 8tom. The apex is usually more distinctly cuspidately pointed, the 

 keel on the inner face is less pronounced, and the base is contracted 

 to a narrower hilum. The surface is smooth and polished. It is 

 diflBcult to determine the extent to which the apex was produced, 

 since it is so readily broken off, and it is usually impossible to detect 

 evidence of fracturing, but there is some evidence of a small amount 

 of elongation. Length, ranging from 3.5 to 7 millimeters. Width, 

 ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 millimeters, and thickness ranging 1.5 to 3.5 

 millimeters. The seed coat as preserved is one-fourth to one-eighth 

 of a millimeter in thickness. 



Phillips County, Kans. (Figs. 11 to 13.) 



LFTHOSPERMUM FOSSILIUM ARISTATUM, new variety 



Plate 1, Figure 14 



This variety is rarer than either of the preceding, probably because 

 the seeds are much more fragile. I judge this conclusion to be correct, 

 because among 20 specimens only the one figured has the apical 

 spine preserved for any distance and nearly all have the seed coat 

 more or less broken. This variety is more slender and elongated than 

 either of the others and is more symmetrical in side view and nearly 

 circular in transverse section. The base is contracted to a hilum 

 about the size of that in var. gldbruni. The apex is produced as an 

 attenuating spine which may be two-thirds as long as the inflated 

 portion. The keel, though obvious, is less elevated. The surface is 

 smooth and polished. The size varies considerably. The dimensions, 

 exclusive of the spine, which is so rarely preserved, range from 

 lengths of from 5 to 10 millimeters and diameters of from 1.5 to 

 3 millimeters. The material does not permit of a determination of 

 the constancy or length of the spines. 



Phillips County, Kans. (Fig. 14.) 



This is the most remarkable of the variants of this species. I 

 know of no instance among the existing members of the families 

 Boraginaceae, Verbenaceae, and Labiatae where the four-parted 

 ovary develops into four nutlets where these are crowned with any- 

 thing approaching the spines of this fossil variety. That this 

 variety is related to the others is clear by the similarity between it 

 and the shorter pointed variety glabrumi^ with which it is associated. 



