ON FOSSIL LEAVES FROM FORT ELLSWORTH, NEBRASKA. 



431 



point of the teeth. Hence the nervation appears aerodrome. The texture of the leaves is 

 apparently also coriaceous. 



8. Persea Nebrascensis, Spec. nov. PI. xxiii, Pigs. 9 and 10. P. foliis coriaeeis, integerrimis, lineari lan- 

 ceolatis, in potiolum longum attenuates, nervo medio crasso, norvis socundariis suboppositis, angulo acuto egredien- 

 tibus, obscuris, gracilibus. 



The broad medial nerve, the long thick petiole, the narrow lanceolate coriaceous leaves, 

 give to this species a marked appearance, which I cannot compare to that of any other 

 fossil leaf. It is distantly related to Persea lancifolia of the N. Lignitic, and also to species 

 of Eugenia of the Eocene of Mt. Bolca. 



4. Sassafras Le Conteantjm, Spec. nov. PI. xxxiii; Pig. 1. Quercus Ponzoin ? Lesqx,, Amer. Journ. of 



Science, § 2, vol. xxvii, page 360. S. foliis elongatis, ovato lancoolatis (acutis ?), margino inte^ris undulatis • 

 nervo medio valido, recto, ncrvis socundariis irregularibus, plus minusve flexuosis, sub angulo acuto e<>redieutibus 

 inferioribus distantibus, secundum marginom longo curvatis. 



The base of the leaf is apparently narrowed to the petiole ; its form is lengthy oval, lan- 

 ceolate, pointed perhaps obtusely ; the inferior pair of secondary nerves is distant from the 

 upper pair, separated from it by shorter irregular flexuous ones. This species is closely 

 related to, if not identical with, Querous Benzoin, Lesqx., of Nanaimo, Vancouver's Island. 

 The form of the leaves is similar, the nervation is of the same type, but in the Nanaimo 

 species the secondary nerves appear thicker, and the lower ones arc exactly opposite. 

 This last character is of no moment, I think, for in our own Sassafras officinale the lower 

 secondary nerves, like the upper ones also, are as often alternate as opposite. Until better 

 specimens prove identity or specific difference between the Nebraska and the Nanaimo 

 species, I shall consider this last as a mere variety of Sassafras Le Conteanum. 



5. Cinnamomum IlEERrr, Fjettqx. PI. xxxiii, Fig. 12. Amer. Journ. of Science, § 2, vol. xxvii, pao- e 361. 

 C. foliis ovatis, acutis vel brevi acuminatis, integris, triplinorvis, norvis latcralibus marginc non parallelis, usque 

 ad I aseendentibus, extus ramosis. 



The incomplete diagnosis formerly given of this species, loc. cit., was from a specimen of 

 which the lower part only is preserved. It has a short petiole, and the lateral nerves 

 unite above the base of the leaf. In the specimen here described the lower part has been 

 destroyed by grinding the stone to give it the form of a leaf. In both the nervation is 

 similar. The substance of the leaves is somewhat coriaceous and the nervation well 

 marked, though not so thick and deep as in Cinnamomum Mlssissippiense. 



6. Proteoides acuta, Seer. PI. xxiii, Pigs. 5, 6, 7. 



These fragments show the form of the whole leaf except the extreme point, which is 

 figured by Hecr, Phyll., page 17, PI. iv, Tigs. 7 and 8. The borders are undulate; the 



