235 



To propose a new generic name for each of these organisms would 

 only create confusion, unless the author were so skilled in botani- 

 cal taxonomy that he could say positively, no such plant as this 

 exists today. I certainly do not possess such knowledge, but it 

 may be that the inability of any and all botanists to recognize 

 certain types will after a time appear to justify new generic 

 names. 



I. Carpolithes macrophyllus n. sp. 

 Fruit apparently consisting of woody follicles about 2.75 mm, 

 long, so far as can be seen like those of Lyonothamnus; sepals 

 four, persistent, about 16 mm. long, 4 broad in middle, elongate- 

 lanceolate, apparently entire, with a single strong median vein 

 and an irregular reticulate venation of the camtodrome type. 

 The sepals are imperfect in various degrees, but enough is visible 

 to permit a restoration as shown in the drawing. 



Fig. I. Carpolithes macrophyllus. a. Whole fossil, the edges of the calyx- 

 lobes restored; b, detail of venation; c, fruit. 



Can this be Cunoniaceous? The follicles and persistent sepals 

 agree, and while the hypanthium is 5-lobed in Lyonothamnus, it 

 is 4 or 5-lobed in Weinmannia and other genera. I do not know 

 any genus in which the sepals resemble those of the fossil, how- 

 ever. In connection with the Cunoniaceae, It is to be remarked 

 that Lyonothamnus, now restricted to the islands off the coast 

 of California, must have been more widely distributed during 

 the Tertiary. Its foliage is extraordinarily like that of the 

 Proteaceous Banksia, and if it has occurred as a fossil it has , 

 probably been referred to that genus. 



