These seeds appear to belong to some genus of Violaceae other than Viola. They 

 have the hilum, raphe, and large chalaza of that genus, and have also its method of ger* 

 mination ; but they are larger and more globose than any species we know. They bear 

 more resemblance to Scyphallandra, a genus of Ceylon and Indo*China, than to any other. 



NYSSACEAE. 



NYSSA SILVATICA Marsh. 

 PI. XIII figs. 31-35. 



Endocarp ovate or slightly obovate narrowed below rounded and mucronate 

 above, dorsally rounded, ventrally somewhat compressed; fibrous bundles 9 or 10 

 sunk (occasionally branching); ribs broad rounded; germination valve triangular, 

 occupying about y of the length of the endocarp. 



Length 8.0 to 11.0 mm. breadth 5.5 to 7.0 mm. Swalmen, Reuver. 



Of the living species of Nyssa the American N. silvatica (figs. 34, 35) is the only 

 one which approaches at all closely to our fossil, and from this species we find it quite 

 impossible to separate the Reuver and Swalmen fruits. In size, shape, and sculpture, both 

 the fossil and the recent endocarps vary a good deal; but the same range of variation 

 occurs in each. At Reuver we find also a good many rather small specimens (fig. 33), 

 with the ribs often little developed.We take these to be unripe or poor fruits belonging 

 to the same species, for they are connected with the better fruits by a complete series of 

 intermediates. None of the extinct species of Nyssa from the Oligocene and Miocene 

 lignite bear much resemblance to our fossil. 



Nyssa silvatica now ranges from Maine to Florida, it is found nowhere in the 

 Old World. 



CAMPTOTHECA CRASSA Sp. nov. 

 PI. XIV, figs. 1 a, b, 3, 4. 



Samara 2 (3 ?)*locularis, dura, ossea, complanata, alata, basi parum obliqua, 

 apice discoidea parumque dilatata. 



Samara 2 (3?)*loculed; hard bony flattened winged, base somewhat oblique, 

 apex discoid and slightly expanded, strongly ribbed longitudinally, ribs irregularly 

 forking and uniting again near the apex, surface with fine irregular oblique grooves as 

 in C. acuminata Decne. (figs. 2 a, b). 



Length 22 mm., breadth 8 + mm. Swalmen. 



The three specimens of this fruit, which are all that have been seen, are of about 

 the same size, shape, and general appearance as samaras of C. acuminata; but are thicker, 

 harder, and more strongly ribbed. 



121 



