SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1919. 



representatives of the tribe Geono- 

 meae. Tliis tribe includes at least 

 ten genera, three of which, all mono- 

 typic, are natives of western Africa. 

 The remaining genera, containing 

 98 per cent of the known species, are 

 widely distributed in tropical and 

 subtropical America. Most of these 

 seven genera are small, containing 

 from one to five existing species. 

 The only large genus of the tribe is 

 Geonoma, which comprises between 

 80 and 100 existing species that ex- 

 tend from the Antilles and southern 

 Mexico through Central America, 

 along the eastern base of the Andes 

 to Bolivia, and along the east coast 

 of South America to Rio de Janeiro. 

 Their center of distribution at the 

 present time is in the basin of the 

 Amazon. They are prevailingly small 

 stemless or short-stemmed palms and 

 are undoubtedly of American origin. 

 The fossil representatives of the Geo- 

 nomeae comprise several Eocene and 

 Oligocene forms of both North 

 America and Europe which have 

 been referred to the genus Manicaria 

 of Gaei-tner; three forms referred to 

 Geonoma; and six forms referred to 

 Geonomites . The earliest known 

 species of both Geonoma and Geono- 

 lie almost perfectly flat in the tuffs, whereas all mites occur in the earl}^ Eocene (Raton and 



Figure 1. — Restoration of Gconomitics visianii Berry, n. sp. 

 natural size. 



One-fifteenth 



the other associated plant remains are more or 

 less bent or contorted. It is of course possible 

 that the tuffs miay represent both water-laid 

 and wind-blown volcanic ash, a conclusion that 

 appears probable in regard to the matrix of 

 most of the dicotyledonous leaves found at this 

 locality, which is slightly different in appear- 

 ance from the matrix of the Geonomites and is 

 suggestive of certain similar leaf-bearing clays 

 of the Fayette and Catahoula sandstones of 

 eastern Texas that are known to have had such 

 an origin, at least in part. On the other hand. 



Denver formations) in Colorado and New 

 Mexico. The species Geonomites schimperi, 

 from. Yellowstone Park, has been referred to 

 the Laramie formation, but the age of the out- 

 crop is uncertain and is probably Eocene. 

 This species has also been recorded from the 

 Tertiary of Contra Costa, Calif. Geonomites 

 goldianus Lesquereux, a Denver species, has 

 been reported from the Eocene of Wyoming. 

 A species has been reported from the supposed 

 Upper Cretaceous along the Rio Grande in 

 Texas, but I have reexamined the material, 

 which proves to be that of a distorted fan palm 



no lithologic differences are observable between of ^he Sahalites type, in no wise related to 



the Geonomites matrix and that inclosing the 

 bent remains of Sahalites. 



The genus Geonomites, which receives its 

 name from its resemblance to the existing genus 

 Geonoma of Willdenow, is more properly con- 

 sidered to represent the undifferentiated ances- 

 try or the generically indistinguishable fossil 



Geonomites. The earliest known European 

 form, the type of the genus, comes from the 

 lower Lutetian of Italy. A second species, re- 

 ferred to Geonoma by its describer, comes from 

 the Oligocene of Italy, and a third, likewise 

 referred to Geonoma, comes from the lower 

 Miocene of Switzerland. 



