NO. 2229. FOSSIL PLANTS FROM BOLIVIA— BERRY. 145 



The tertiaries form elongated meshes, all of which in the upper half 

 of the leaflet are arched distad and pointed proximad. 



This characteristic form bears some resemblance to certain leaflets 

 of Acacia and Calliandra, as well as to the leaflets of some species 

 of Cassia, as, for example, the South American Cassia cultrifolia 

 Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth. While the form is not distinc- 

 tive, the venation is typically that of Bauhirda, to which genus I 

 have referred it. It is smaller than, perhaps, the majority of existing 

 species of BauTiinia, but there are a number that resemble it closely 

 in size both among recer.t species, as, for example, Bauhinia unifiora, 

 and among fossil species, as, for example, Bauhinia marylandica 

 Berry. 



This remarkable genus, abundantly represented by butterflyhke 

 leaves in the Upper Cretaceous of North America, comprises upward 

 of 200 existii^g species of trees or high-climbing shrubs widely dis- 

 tributed in the Tropics of both hemispheres. About 40 per cent of 

 the recent species are American, where they range from the West 

 Indies and Mexico to southern Brazil. South America contains 

 more species than any other continent, although both Africa and 

 Asia have numerous species. Bauhinia is common in eastern Bo- 

 livia, but does not, as far as I know, occur farther west than the 

 well-watered subandean eastern slope of the CordiUera, although a 

 small-leafed species, Bauhinia n^icrophylla, is present in the thorn- 

 bush country or Gran Chaco region. 



Cotypes.— Cat. Nos. 35101, 35102, U.S.N.M. 



Genus PELTOPHORUM Vogel. 



PELTOPHORUM MEMBRANACEUM Engelhardt. 



Plate 17, fig. 3. 



Peltophorummembranacewn "EiNGELUAnjiT, Sitz. Naturw. Gesell. Isis in Dresden, 

 1894, Abh. 1, p. 9, pi. 1, fig. 47. 



Description. — Leaflets small, sessile, inequilateral, ovate in general 

 outline, with a blmitly pointed apex and an obliquely cmieate base. 

 Margins entire. Length, about 8 mm. Maximum width, in the 

 middle part, about 3.5 mm., one side one-third wider than the other. 

 Midrib mediumly stout, curved proximad. Secondaries thin, about 

 three ascending camptodrome pairs. 



This species was described from Potosi by Engelhardt, and is not 

 present in the other collections from Bolivia. The peculiar outline 

 serves to readily distinguish it from the other members of the Potosi 

 flora. It has been compared with the existuig Peltophorum vogelia- 

 num Bentham of the Brazilian region. 



The genus Peltophorum, not otherwise known in the fossil state, 

 comprises about eight species of trees common to the tropics ot Doth 

 hemispheres. 



3343— 19— Proc. N. M. vol.54 11 



