DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIES. 69 



grounds for the reference of the fossil to the genus Fagus. It will be neces- 

 sary, however, to find the fruit before the fact can be accepted as fully 

 proven of the existence of beeches during the Cretaceous. 



A large number of fossil species of Fagus have been described from the 

 Tertiaries of Europe by Unger, Dunker, Heer, etc., but the genus has never 

 before been obtained from the Cretaceous formation. 



Formation and locality: Cretaceous (Dakota group). Smoky Hill, 

 Kansas. 



Quercus antiqua Newb. 



PL XIII, fig. 2. 

 Ann. N. Y. Lye Nat. Hist., Vol. IX (April, 1868), p. 26. 



"Leaves of medium size, lanceolate in .outline, acute, often somewhat 

 flexuous; margins serrate-dentate, with strong, obtuse teeth, which are 

 appressed or turned toward the summit; midrib strong and reaching the 

 apex; lateral nerves numerous, of unequal strength, gently arched upward, 

 terminating in the marginal teeth." 



The specimens upon which this description is based are fossilized in a 

 somewhat coarse ferruginous sandstone, which has not preserved the minor 

 details of the nervation; but the generalities of form and structure, which 

 are clearty enough shown, seem to indicate that it represented in the 

 Cretaceous flora the chestnut oaks of the present epoch. Several Tertiary 

 species bear considerable resemblance to it, as Q. Mediterranea Ung., and 

 Q Haidingera Ett.; but in both these species the marginal dentations are 

 less uniform in size, and, when having a similar outline, are smaller. 



Formation and locality: Cretaceous (Dakota group). Banks of Rio 

 Dolores, Utah. 



Quercus banksi^efolia Newb. 



PL XVIII, figs. 2-5. 

 Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., Vol. VII (1863), p. 522. 



"Leaves very long, linear, lanceolate, long-pointed and acute at either 

 end; margins set with numerous nearly uniform, acute, appressed teeth 

 turned toward the superior extremity; midrib strong, running the entire 

 length of the leaf; lateral veins numerous, simple, strongly marked, 

 parallel, arched upward, terminating in the teeth of the margin; reticulated 



