504 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. XL. 



lobes are not anomalies is indicated by the three leaves that Lesque- 

 reux figures, whidi are of widely different sizes, his larger figure 

 indicating a leaf about fifteen centimeters in length and showing 

 perfectly the characteristic venation of this genus. 



Lescjuereux compares this species with Comptonia acidiloha 

 lirongn., to which, however, the resemblance is not especially close, 

 ]iot so close as it is, for instance, to Ludwig's larger figure of Comp- 

 fonla iiiri.s-a ((/audlnil Ilcer). In both of these species, however, 

 tlie lobes are laterally i)<)iiHe<l and not ascending. The European 

 leaf which is the closest to ciispiddfa is l.'nger's specimen of dryan- 

 droidr.s- from the ( )ligocene of Styria, in which the resemblance 

 is (itiite striking although the lobes of the latter are somewhat less 



The occurrence of Comptonia cmpidafa and prcmifisa in Alaska 

 during the early Tertiary would seem to indicate tliat they represent 

 the invasion of the genus into Asia from the Arctica-North America 

 region which probably shortly preceded or followed this Alaskan 

 occurrence, as they are not so different from the two forms which 

 occur in the Miocene of Japan as to preclude the idea of their 

 standing in ancestral relations to the latter. 



Comptonia premissa T.cs(|. 



ThislnurrT.M'tiarv .,„.-ir. from ( '.,al llarb„r and ( 'iuunik Hav, 

 Alaska, had leaves vcn similar in ,hr younger leavc^ of the living 

 species of Comptonia and not especially <-lo.se to anv of its known 

 European contenipoiari(-. Weiv the innains of Heer's lalntrpil 

 more definite it might po^^ioly !>,. ron. pared with the Alaskan 

 torn,, ^^\u\r <irvuUrrj:\ I;, pe h^ure /V. IM. 24, Fig. 1) 



oiCnmpfnnm dijnrwr show, the eloM-st re.en.l.lanee to it of any of 



Comptonia gracillima lieer; j^errv 



