DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 
MONOCOTYLEDONES. 
PALM. 
SABALITES, Srerns. 
Sabalites Californicus, sp. nov. 
hs Fag: *1. 
Fragment of a frond with rays of large size, carinate in the lower part, flattened 
upwards ; primary nerves broad and obtuse, secondary veins four to five, nearly 
at equal distance, with three or four obsolete intermediate veinlets. 
The fragment represents the middle part of a large palmate leaf, whose 
rachis is unknown. Its relation, therefore, to Sabal or to Filabellaria is 
uncertain. The rays, distinctly carinate in the lower part of the speci- 
men, where they measure twelve to fourteen millimeters, both sides 
taken altogether, gradually widen upwards and become flattened, meas- 
uring twenty-two millimeters at the top of the specimen, which is about 
twelve centimeters both ways. The lower part, therefore, has the appear- 
ance of a fragment of Sabal, while the rays flattened upward resemble 
those of Fiabellaria. The rays are in their whole length distinctly sepa- 
rated into equal parts by the primary nerves, somewhat thicker than 
the secondary ones, convex at the top of the ridges and concave at the 
bottom of the carinze. The secondary veins, a little more than one milli- 
meter distant, are also somewhat broad when seen through the thin, 
smooth epidermis, and separated by three or four indistinct veinlets. 
The absence of the rachis with this specimen prevents any comparison 
with fossil species of Palms. 
Habitat. — Chalk Bluffs, Nevada County. Professor J. D. Whitney. 
