GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY OF THE CANAL ZONE. 27 



to Ficus jynx Unger, but which appear to me to be decidedly differ- 

 ent from Unger's type. 



Occurrence. — Culebra formation, upper part. East wall of the 

 Gaillard cut just north of Canal Commission station 1760 (collected 

 by M. I. Goldman) . 



Order RANALES. 



Family ANONACEAE. 



Genus GUATTERIA Ruiz and Pavon. 



GUATTERIA CULEBEENSIS, new species. 



Plate 13, fig. 2. 



Description. — Leaves of large size, broadly ovate in general out- 

 line, with a narrowed slightly decurrent base and a narrowed and 

 extended acuminate tip. Length about 20 cm. Maximum width, 

 approximately midway between the apex and the base, between 6 cm. 

 and 7 cm. Margins entire. Texture coriaceous. Petiole short and 

 stout, enlarged proximad, about 2.25 cm. in length. Midrib stout 

 and promient. Secondaries mediumly stout and prominent, about 

 ten opposite to alternate pairs diverge from the midrib at angles 

 ranging from 45° to 60°, sweeping upward in regular ascending 

 subparallel curves, camptodrome in the marginal region. Tertiaries, 

 where visible, percurrent. 



The present is one of the more abundant and better preserved 

 forms from the Canal Zone, but the large size of the leaves usually 

 results in fragmentary specimens, the tip being almost invariably 

 missing. The species shows great similarity with various existing 

 forms of Anonaceae. It is very close to Anona marcgravii Martius of 

 Venezuela, French and Dutch Guiana, and Brazil (Bahia and Per- 

 nambuco). It is, however, among the various species of Guatteria 

 that the closest homologies are found. The latter genus contains 

 about fifty species of shrubs and trees, exclusively American 1 and 

 found in Mexico, Central America, tropical South America, and in 

 the northern Andes. The fossil may be compared with a large num- 

 ber of the existing species, as for example Guatteria ouregon Dunal, 

 a large tree of the Carribbean islands and equatorial South America, 

 Guatteria dolichopoda De Candolle or G. grandiflora De Candolle 

 of Central America. 



The family Anonaceae contains about 700 existing species, dis- 

 tributed among about 48 genera, only two of which are present in 

 North America. The family is practically confined to the Tropics, 



1 The Asiatic species of various authors are referred to the genus Polyalthia. 

 8370°— 18g— Bull. 103 3 



