16 PEOCEEDIIsT^GS OF THE NATIOISTAL MUSEUM vol. 73 



Leaves, small, siibcoriaceous, ovate in general outline, with an 

 acute apex and a slightly inequilateral cuneate base. Margin with 

 somewhat variable but invariably simple and relatively large teeth, 

 one to each secondary. These teeth are prevailingly dentate, from 

 which they grade into serrate, and some specimens approach Avhat 

 might be called crenate-serrate. Length ranging from 1.75 to 3.5 

 centimeters. Maximum width ranging from 0.75 to 1.5 centimeters. 

 Petiole stout, usually missing, but preserved in one specimen to a 

 length of 3.5 millimeters. Secondaries 10 to 12 pairs, opposite to 

 alternate, thin, straight, subparallel or slightly divergent, craspedo- 

 drome, usually ascending at angles of about 45°, but subtending 

 somewhat greater angles in the smaller and relatively wider forms. 

 Tertiaries percurrent. Aerolation obsolete. 



The genus Nothofagus comprises about 17 existing austral species, 

 confined to southern Chile, Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego in the 

 Western Hemisphere and to southern Australia, Tasmania, and New 

 Zealand in the Eastern Hemisphere. According to Skottsberg 

 (1915), the recent species are distributed as follows: 6 in New 

 Zealand, 1 in Tasmania, 1 in Tasmania and Victoria, 1 in New 

 South Wales, and 8 in South Am.erica. The genus is divided into 

 evergreen and deciduous sections. The deciduous species comprise 

 1 in Tasmania and 5 in South America. The evergreen section con- 

 tains 3 in South' America, all 6 of the New Zealand species, 1 in 

 Tasmania and Victoria, and 1 in New South Wales. They are 

 obviously related to Fagus of the Northern Hemisphere and for a 

 long time were referred to that genus. Fagus has been recorded as 

 a fossil associated with Nothofagus in South America. Australia, 

 and New Zealand, but it may be questioned if the two can be 

 separated on the basis of leaf form alone. Several forms resembling 

 Nothofagiis have been found in the Tertiary of Europe, but are 

 equally unreliable. Recently Bandulska^^ has described a Noth- 

 ofagus from the Eocene of southern England, basing her determina- 

 tion upon the cuticular-structure which she claims to be able to 

 differentiate from that of Fagus. 



A large number of fossil species have been described from the 

 Tertiary of the regions where the living species occur; at least two 

 occur on Seymour Island, Antarctica.^^ In considering the 13 

 species and varieties which Dusen has described from the Tertiary 

 of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, one is impressed with the thought 

 that perhaps the majority of these are the slightly varying leaves of 

 a much fewer number of botanical species. 



wBadulska, H., Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot., vol. 46, p. 4.33, pi. 39, fig. 20, 1924. 

 " Dusen, P., Wiss. Ergeb. Schwed. Siidpolar-Exped. 1901-1903, vol. 3, Lief. 3, p. 10, 

 rl. 1, figs. 10, 12, 19 ; pi. 3, figs. 7-9. 1908. 



