130 MRS. E. II. REID ON TWO [vol. lxxvi, 



"the resemblance is precise ; but the Chinese species is larger, also 

 it has no resin-hollows. Rhus glabra, a North American species, 

 is of the same size ; but it is oval, not subreniform, and has no 

 resin -hollows. It. laurina, a Californian plant, perhaps most 

 resembles our fossil in size and in the character of the style ; 

 but it is not so broadly indented, and the resin-hollows are not so 

 marked. 



Khus sp. (?) 



Fruit horizontal, ovate, compressed, thin-walled, covered with a 

 vcoarse network of fibres, curving from the sub-lateral style to the 

 .attachment ; attachment basal ; style sublateral ; dehiscing hj a 

 lateral suture along the greater arc from the style to the attachment. 



Length = 1 "6 mm. ; breadth = 2 mm. 



The shape suggests H. cotinoides ; but it is much smaller, and 

 "thin-walled. It may be an unripe fruit of this species. 



There were two fruits ; but I regret to say that the better- 

 preserved of the two, which showed the characters described, was 

 lost. 



AQUIFOLIACE.E. 



Ilex oblonga, sp. no v. (PL IX, fig. 1-3.) 



Semina oblonga, angusta, inflata, ventrice angulata. lineis 

 iibrosis longitudinalibus circa tredecim gracilibus inter se ramosis 

 in costis positis instructa. 



Seed oblong, inflated, angled ventrally, convex dorsally ; hilum 

 triangular, basi-ventral ; about thirteen slender, irregular, longi- 

 tudinal, anastomosing, strands of fibres, carried on as many obscure 

 ribs, both on the dorsal and on the ventral faces : ventral rib and 

 :strand of fibres strong and well-marked. 



Length=5"o mm.; breadth = l - 75 mm. 



This slender form of seed is not common in the genus Ilex, 

 •and when it does occur the seeds have usually a median dorsal rib 

 •only, and smooth lateral faces. I found but one seed that was 

 •an exception. This was in a broken berry lying loose, in a cover 

 containing a number of unnamed species collected by Mr. Wilson 

 in Western Hupeh. I was unable to identify the sheet from 

 which the berry came. The living seed is larger and more pointed 

 "than the fossil; but its proportions are similar (length = 7 - 25 mm. ; 

 breadth = 2 - 5 mm.), and the number and character of the ribs are 

 the same. It is possible that the fossil is not quite so ripe as the 

 living specimen, or that other specimens of the living species, had 

 they been obtainable, might have been smaller. 



In view of the extreme rarity of this form of seed among living 

 species, and the only species which it closely resembles being still 

 unnamed, I have thought it best to give to the fossil a specific 

 name. 



The genus Ilex has its greatest development in China. 



