92 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol; XLIX. No. 1256 



America as the center of radiation for the 

 family and regarded the subfamily Myrtoideae 

 as the most ancient. The subfamily Lepto- 

 spermoidese was regarded as derived from the 

 former; and the Australian types, which are 

 the peculiar ones of the family, were regarded 

 as having originated in that region in response 

 to local environmental conditions subsequent 

 to the Cretaceous radiation of the family 

 stock. Genera such as Eugenia and Myrcia 

 were regarded as representing this ancestral 

 stock more nearly than any other of the exist- 

 ing genera. 



This theory considered Eucalyptus as one of 

 the more specialized genera and is this con- 

 clusion I agreed entirely with Andrews and 

 other Australian friends who have repeatedly 

 expressed doubt regarding the presence of 

 Eucalyptus in the fossil floras of the northern 

 hemisphere. "Without wishing to be dogmatic 

 about European fossil forms referred to Eu- 

 calyptus and known to me only from figures, 

 I may say that I do not regard the genus as 

 ever having been present in North American, 

 although in conformity with long-established 

 custom and with due consideration for the 

 stratigraphic applications, I have frequently 

 referred fossil forms to this genus. 



A question of considerable importance is the 

 real botanical affinity of the numerous N'orth 

 American Cretaceous forms which have been 

 referred to Eucalyptus. These are undoubt- 

 edly ancestral to the American Eocene forms 

 referred to Eugenia and Myrcia, and it would 

 probably not be far from the truth if they were 

 referred to the genus Myrcia. I have collected 

 and studied a great many of these Cretaceous 

 types and some of them are certainly closely 

 allied to, if not identical with that genus. 

 Others are somewhat remote and pending a 

 solution of their botanical affinity, which may 

 never be satisfactorily attained, I would ad- 

 vocate the dropping altogether of the use of 

 Eucalyptus for those N"orth American fossil 

 forms. This usage is seriously misleading from 

 the standpoint of evolution and distribution, 

 and moreover is not supported by any valid 

 botanical arguments, as I pointed out in the 

 paper already alluded to at the beginning of 



this note. The alternative that I suggest is 

 the taking up of the genus Myrtophyllum pro- 

 posed by Heer in 1869- and using it for leaves 

 of Myrtacese whose generic relations can not 

 be determined with certainty, and more espe- 

 cially for the leaves commonly referred to the 

 genus Eucalyptus. Edward W. Berry 



Johns Hopkins Univeesitt, 

 Baltimoee, Md. 



the richardton metkorite 

 On July 21, about 10 p.m., many people saw 

 a meteorite fall in the district lying between 

 Mott and Eichardton, N. D. From the de- 

 scriptions of many eye witnesses it appears 

 that the meteorite fell at a low angle, about 

 75° from vertical, and that its direction of 

 flight was about due north. It seems to have 

 burst a few thousand feet above the groiuid, 

 and to have broken into many pieces, over a 

 hundred of which have been found. The 

 weight of the material discovered is about 200 

 pounds. The meteorite is stony, poor in 

 metallic parts, composed of little spheroids in 

 a gray brittle matrix, classified tentatively by 

 the vsrriter as a veined kiigelchen chondrite. 

 Nearly all the witnesses agree that the 

 meteorite made a very bright light and a rush- 

 ing sound, followed by a noise like thunder, 

 and that it made the windows rattle and the 

 houses shake; two men heard the whistle of 

 stones like the flight of bullets, and one heard 

 the stones rattle upon the roof of his bam, 

 near which specimens were later found. The 

 most intelligent witness says it looked first 

 like a very bright falling star, and that it 

 burst like a Koman candle, after which he 

 heard the stones falling. Every one admits 

 that he was very much frightened, most of 

 them emphasize the terrifying noise and the 

 brilliant light. 



The meteorite did not fall at a very high 

 velocity, for few pieces have been found 

 buried in the ground, most pieces were found 

 in pastures or wheat fields. Two pieces at 



2 Heer, O., Neue Denies. Schiu. Gesell. Naturw., 

 Bd. 23, mem. 2, p. 22, 1869. Type being the wide- 

 spread mid-Cretaceous species Eucalyptus Geinitzi. 



