14 PEOCEEDIFGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.72 



found in the Esmeralda formation, which are of all sizes and of every 

 -conceivable shape and attitude due to their compression in the clays 

 after having been rendered slightly plastic by maceration there can 

 be no doubt but that only a single species is represented. 



There are three species of Trapa in the existing flora, none of 

 which is native to the Western Hemisphere, although the European 

 species is more or less naturalized in the northeastern United States. 

 Tra'pa natans Linnaeus, which normally has four horns, is now 

 endemic in central and southern Europe, although during the Pleis- 

 tocene it was abundant in England, Scandinavia, Denmark, and 

 Russia. The two existing Asiatic species — Trapa Mcornis Linnaeus 

 and Trapoi Mspinosct Roxburg — of eastern and southern Asia and 

 Africa are normally two-horned. 



Considerable of the geological history of the genus is known. 

 Rosettes supposed to represent floating leaves, but of doubtful iden- 

 tity, are widespread in the Rocky Mountain region of North Amer- 

 ica in formations of late Upper Cretaceous to early Eocene age 

 (Trapa f microphylla Lesquereux, Trapcb ? cuneata Knowlton). The 

 oldest fruits are relatively small ones from the lower Eocene (Wil- 

 cox) of the Mississippi embayment. There is a two-horned species 

 in the Upper Eocene of Alaska and western Canada, an Oligocene 

 species in Saxony, several Miocene species in Japan, Europe, and the 

 western United States, and a fine Pliocene species from southern 

 Alabama, marking the latest known occurrence of the genus in North 

 America. 



Occurrence. — Coal prospect 4 miles southeast of Morgan Ranch 

 and 15 miles west of Hawthorne, Mineral County, Nev. 



PUsioiypes.—Cd^i. No. 37307, U.S.N.M. 



Order ERICALES 

 Family VACCINIACEAE 

 Genus VACCINIUM Linnaeus 



VACCINIUM ELLIPTICUM, new species 



Plate 2, fig. 4 



Leaves small, elliptical in outline. Margins entire. Texture 

 coriaceous. Apex full and evenly rounded. Base less full and con- 

 ceivably narrowed if there was material of this form to show varia- 

 tions. Length 1.25 centimeters. Maximum width 8 millimeters. 

 Mid vein stout, immersed, becoming thin distad. Secondaries thin, 

 three or four ascending pairs, camptodrome. 



The species is based upon the single small leaf flg'ured, which shows 

 the features of this genus. It may have been carried into the basin 



