THE FLORA OF THE SAINT EUGENE SILTS 



399 



Incidentally, it is of interest to note, in connection with the 

 several species above mentioned, that the general type of alder 

 leaf that they represent has an ancestry that began as far back 

 as the Miocene in the Old World, and in America also according 

 to Newberry," who described and figured a leaf from the Mio- 

 cene of Bridge Creek, Oregon, nnder the name Alnus serrulata 

 fossUis {op. cit., p. 66, pi. 46, fig. 6), and remarked: ''Among the 

 leaves . . . occurs one . . . which ... it will be seen at a 

 glance . . . closely resembles the leaves of A. serrulata, and I 

 have been unable to find any characters upon which to base a 

 distinction. More material will, of course, be needed before the 

 fact may be considered established that our most common alder 

 was growing in the Tertiary. There would be nothing surpris- 

 ing, however, in such a discovery; indeed it Avas to be expected 

 that this species, so wide-spread as it now is, should have some 

 representative in the Tertiary flora." 



From the above references and citations it may be inferred 

 that any fossil alder leaf of the general tyj^e represented by 

 those of the several existing species discussed would not be of 

 much value in critical stratigraphic investigations, and any 

 statement that might express or imply definite identification 

 with any existing species might lead to erroneous conclusions in 

 regard to areal as well as vertical distribution. 



A species of alder {^^Almis sp.") was also listed by Pen- 

 hallow {loc. cit., 1900, pp. 335 and 338), from the Canadian Pleis- 

 tocene of the Don River Valley, but witliout any description or 

 illustration. 



Family Fagaceae 

 Genus Fagus Linnaeus 

 Fagus sanctieugeniensis n. sp. 



Plate 30, figure 3; plate 31, figure 3; plate 32, figures 2, 3 



Fagus n. sp." Hollick, Summary Kept. {loc. cit.), p. 134. 



Leaves ellipsoidal to obovoid in shape, varying in size from 

 about 12 to 18 centimeters in length by from 5 to 8 centimeters 

 in maximum width ; margins varying from triangular-wavy to 



1* Newberry, J. S. The later extinct floras of North America. U. S. Geol. Sur- 

 vey, Mon., vol. 35. 1898. 



