101 



is not particularly close to any previously described form. While 

 much smaller than the existing species it is clearly referable to 

 Trapa. It is a curious fact that nearly all of the North American 

 Trapa have two horns like the existing Asiatic species instead 

 of four as is normally the case in the existing European species. 



Trapa alabamensis sp. nov. 



Coriaceous nuts, rhomboidal and roughly bilateral in outline, 

 much swollen and tuberculated medianly, with normally two, 

 short, conical, acuminate, slightly recurved horns. The base is 

 rounded and shows a conspicuous scar. The sides are somewhat 

 unsymmetrical and faintly and irregularly ribbed and usually 

 show three large tubercles on each face above the middle. The 

 base is large and full. The apex is but slightly produced or 

 truncated. Length from tip to tip of the horns about 4 cm. 

 Height about 2 cm. Figs. 4, 5. 



Fig. I. Fruits of Tertiary Trapa; 1-3, Trapa wilcoxensis from Lower Eocene of 

 Tennessee; 4, 5, Trapa alabamensis from the Pliocene of Alabama. 



The present species is very close to the existing Trapa natans 

 especially to the two horned variants (the species is normally four 

 horned). The latter is larger and more symmetrical with 

 stouter more recurved horns, and a more extended apex as well 

 as a stouter and more symmetrical body. The present species is 

 common in the late Pliocene clays of Red Bluff, Perdido Bay, 

 Baldwin County, Alabama, and inland from the present Gulf 

 coast to elevations of over 300 feet near Lambert, Mobile County, 

 Alabama. 



