58 THE LATER EXTINCT FLORAS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Salix Meekii Newb. 



Pi. II, fig. 3. 



Ann. N. Y. Lye. Nat. Hist., Vol. IX (April, 1868), p. 19; Ills. Cret. and Tert. PI. 

 (1878), PI. I, fig. 3 [under S. cuneata]. 



"Leaves petioled, thin and delicate, lanceolate, acute at both ends, 

 nervation delicate, midrib slender, secondary nerves fine, springing from 

 the medial nerve at an angle of 35 degrees, gently arched and anastomosing 

 near the margins; network of tertiary veins somewhat lax, but composed 

 of nervules of such tenuity as to be rarely visible." 



This is the plant of which an outline sketch was sent Professor Heer 

 by Mr. Meek. In that sketch the general form was alone given, the details 

 of nervation, as well as the texture of the leaf, not being deducible from it. 

 Professor Heer considered it a Laurus, and as probably identical with 

 Laurus primigenia Ung., a common species in the Tertiary of Europe. 

 Aside from the a priori improbability of this plant, found in the Middle 

 Cretaceous rocks, being identical with one which in the Old World dates 

 back no further than the Miocene, there are characters in the fossil itself 

 which seem to separate it from even the genus Laurus. The nervation 

 has a different aspect from that of any of the Lauracese with which I am 

 acquainted, being both more lax and delicate, the secondary nerves less 

 accurately arched, and their summits more wavy ; the patterns formed by 

 their anastomosis less regular and determinate. In these respects, as well 

 as in its comparatively thin and delicate texture, it resembles much more 

 the willows than the laurels. 



It seems hardly worth while to compare the plant before us with any 

 of the living willows, for everything indicates that all the species of the 

 Cretaceous, both vegetable and animal, long since perished Among* the 

 great number of fossil species found in the Tertiary strata there are several 

 which have a g-eneral resemblance to it and from which it might be unwise 

 to regard it as distinct if they were from the same formation. Salix 

 elongata Web. (Palgeontogr. (1852), PI. XIX, fig. 10) has nearly the same 

 form, but the secondary nerves are given off at a larger angle and are 

 much more arched. 



From its associate species in the Cretaceous strata it seems not diffi- 

 cult to distinguish it. Salicites Hartigi Dunker (Palaeontogr. (1856), p. 181, 



