E. W. Berry— A Fossil Nutmeg. 215 



lum majus and minus, and by equally unconvincing leaf frag- 

 ments described by Engelhardt as Myristica fossilis* and 

 coming from beds in Equadorand Cbile considered to be either 

 Eocene or Oligocene in age. 



On the other hand, the family Anonaceae, which is closely 

 related to the Myristicacese, is represented in the fossil record 

 by over a score of species of Anona, Asimina, Guatteria, etc., 

 ranging in age from the early Upper Cretaceous through the 

 Tertiary. Both Anona and Asimina are represented in the 

 Lower Eocene flora of the Mississippi embayment area. 



Myristica catahoulensis comes from a cut on the Inter- 

 national and Great Northern Railroad in southern Trinity 

 County, where a spur to the Government lock leaves the main 

 line, and the Catahoula formation in this area is either late 

 Eocene or early Oligocene in age. The flora is a coastal one 

 and strictly tropical in character. 



Johns Hopkins University, 

 Baltimore, Md. 



* Abb. Senck. Naturf. Gesell., xvi, Heft 4, 1891, p. 663, pi. 6, f. 9, pi. 7, 

 fig. 12, 1891. Ibid., xix, p. 13, pi. 1, f. 21, 1895. 



