212 Berry — An Eocene Ancestor of the Zapodilla. 



tropics, has two species in the Lower Eocene of the Mississippi 

 embayment which are the oldest representatives of this genus 

 thus far discovered. To this genus have been referred four 

 Oligocene and one or two Miocene species from the European 

 area. 



Isonandra Wright, a small modern genus of the Malayan 

 region, is represented in the Tertiary of Borneo by Isonandro- 

 phyllum of Geyler : the genus Achras has three fossil species 

 recorded by Unger and Pilar from the European Miocene. 

 These are based upon leaves found in Styria and Croatia and 

 are probably referable to Chrysophyllum or Pisonia. The 

 genus Labatia Swartz, with six existing species in the American 

 tropics, has been doubtfully determined in the Miocene of 

 Prussia and Italy. Felix has described two forms of petrified 

 wood which he refers to this family under the name Sapot- 

 oxylon, one from Germany and the other from an unknown 

 locality and horizon. 



A large number of fossil forms of Sapotacese have been 

 referred to the form-genus Sapotacites proposed by Ettings- 

 hausen (also Sapotophyllum). There are at least ten Upper 

 Cretaceous forms widespread in North America and represented 

 in Europe in the Perucer beds of Bohemia and the Credneria 

 stage of southern Saxony 'Cenomanian). Three of these 

 Upper Cretaceous forms are from the Tuscaloosa formation of 

 Alabama and undoubtedly represent the ancestors of some of the 

 Lower Eocene Sapotacese that have been found in this region. 

 There are abont ten species of Sapotacites recorded from 

 the Eocene of France and southern England ; and there 

 are about a score of Oligocene and Miocene forms most of 

 which are European. There is, however, an undescribed 

 species in the Apalachicola Group of western Florida. In the 

 Pliocene there are species in southern Europe and on the 

 Island of Java. 



Notwithstanding the incompleteness of the record, it is 

 obvious that the family became well differentiated during the 

 Upper Cretaceous, and while it would not be safe in the 

 present state of our knowledge to assign its place of origin to 

 the American region, it is probable that at least several of the 

 genera such as Bumelia, Achras and Calocarpum originated 

 in this region. 



It will be noted that the large genera of Sapotacese with 

 many existing species and relatively small fruits are found in 

 more than one continental area. They are also more or less 

 well represented in the Lower Eocene and in some cases even 

 in the Upper Cretaceous, and they are unquestionably older 

 than genera like Achras or Calocarpum with their relatively 

 enormous fruits. It is a strictly reasonable assumption that 



