ART. 14. TERTIARY FOSSIL PLANTS FROM HAITI——BERRY. 7 
Order THYMELEALES. 
Family LAURACEAE. 
Genus MESPILODAPHNE Nees. 
MESPILODAPHNE HISPANIOLANA, new species. 
Plate 1, fig. 11. 
Leaves of medium size, about 9 cm. in length by 3 cm. in maximum 
width. Widest at or slightly below the middle, tapering upward to 
the acuminate tip, and downward to the 
cuneate base. Ovatelanceolate in general out- 
line, and presumably with a short petiole, 
margins entire, somewhat, but very slightly 
undulate. Texture subcoriaceous. Midrib 
stout. Secondaries relatively thin, ascend- 
ing, camptodrome; 4 or 5 irregularly spaced 
and not subparellel pairs diverge from the 
midrib at angles of 45 degrees or less, some 
curve upward with a single camptodrome 
arch, others are more ascending with several 
diminishing arches along the margins of the 
leaf. The tertiaries are prominent and typi- 
cally lauraceous, forming polygonal meshes, 
passing imperceptibly into a similar areola- 
tion, not shown in the figure, but exactly like 
that shown in the accompanying text figure 
of the existing Mespilodaphne glauca, except 
that in the fossil it is on a smaller scale. 
Many fragments of these leaves n the col- 
lection show this areolation with great dis- 
tinctness, but it is impossible to correctly 
depict it in a pen drawing. It is so charac- 
teristic that pieces of the leaf one-half an inch 
square are readily and positively identified. 
The present species, clearly distinct from pre- 
viously described forms, represents a well de- 
fined type, appearing in the geological record 
at least as early as the lower Eocene in south- 
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Wary, of, 
Fic. 2.—NATURE PRINT OF A 
LEAF OF MESPILODAPHNE 
GLAUCA FOR COMPARISON 
WITH THE FOSSIL. 
eastern North America, and continuing down to the present, there being 
a large number of existing species of Mespilodaphne in the American 
tropics. The existing form most like the fossil is Mespilodaphne 
glauca of northern South America, and I have introduced an auto- 
print of a leaf of this species for comparison with the fossil and also to 
show the areolation that is such a clear-cut feature in the fossil form. 
Occurrence.—Artibonite group, Miocene (station 7544). 
Holotype.—Cat. No. 36612, U.S.N.M. 
