146 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUAI. vol.54. 



Family PAPILIONACEAE. 



Genus AMICIA Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth. 



AMICU ANTIQUA Britton. 



Plate 17, figs. 4, 5. 



Amicia antiqua Britton, Trane. Amer. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 21, 1893, p. 252, 

 figs. 11, 45. 



Description. — Leaflets sessile, narrowly or broadly cuneate in 

 general outline, with an eraarginate apex. Length ranging from 

 2 to 3 cm. Maximum width in the apical part of the leaflet ranging 

 from 0.75 to L4 cm. Margins entire, sUghtly undulate. Textm-e 

 coriaceous. Midrib mediumly stout, slightly flexuous, prominent on 

 the lower surface of the leaflets. Secondaries thin, numerous, 

 ascending, camptodrome, Tertiaries obsolete. 



This species was described by Britton from a limited amount of 

 material collected by Wendt and is not contained hi the recent 

 collection made by Singewald and Miller. It may be compared 

 with the existing Amicia lobhiana Bentham found at high altitudes 

 in the Peruvian and BoHvian Andes (1,800-3,000 meters). 



The genus Amicia, not otherwise known fossil, comprises five or 

 six species of shrubs or undershrubs of the Andean region, ranging 

 from Mexico to Bolivia . 



The identification of the present species is somewhat questionable 

 upon general grounds, for while the fossil agrees with the existing 

 leaflets of Amicia, and it is quite natural to identify the fossil leaflets 

 with a recent genus of the same general region, the fact that the 

 vast majority of the fossil forms found at Potosi are related to 

 existing forms of the more humid regions of eastern Bolivia and 

 the Amazon Basin, raises the question whether the present leaflets 

 may not be more properly referable to some other leguminous genus 

 with similar leaflets, such as would more naturally be expected to 

 occur under such conditions and in such an association, as, for exam- 

 ple, the genus Dalhergia. 



Genus MACHAERIUM Persoon. 



MACHAERrcM ERIOCARPOroES Engelhardt. 



Plate 17, fig. 6. 



Machaerium eriocarpoides Engelhardt, Sitz. Natiirw. Gesell. Isie. in Dresden, 

 1894, Abh. 1, p. 8, pi. 1, fig. 28. 



Description. — Leaflets petiolulate, lanceolate in outMne, Jiearly 

 equilateral, with an equally pointed apex and base. Margins entire. 

 Texture subcoriaceous. Length, 1.2 to 1.4 cm. Maximum width, 

 midway between the apex and the base, 2.5 to 3.25 mm. Petiolule 

 stout, 0.5 to 1 mm long. Midrib stout. vSecondaries thin, regularly 



