400 



MEMOIRS OF THE SEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



serrate-dentate ; nervation simply pinnate ; secondary nerves 

 mostly alternate, occasionally opposite, the upper ones straight 

 or slightly curved upward toward their extremities, the lower 

 ones mostly curved slightly downward or backward toward their 

 extremities, each secondary terminating in one of the marginal 

 dentitions. 



These leaves are very similar in general appearance to those 

 of the existing North American beech, Fagus grandifoUa Ehr- 

 hart, although our specimens are larger in size than the average 

 of the leaves of the species mentioned, a typical, rather large 

 leaf of which, collected in The New York Botanical Garden, is 

 represented by figure 2, plate 44. 



Fagus grandifoUa (=F. ferruginea Aiton and F. americana 

 Sweet), mostly represented by nuts and husks,^'' has been identi- 

 fied in many of the American collections of Pleistocene plants; 

 and well-preserved specimens of leaves, as well as a husk, were 

 described and figured by Berry^'' from the Pleistocene of North 

 Carolina, under the synonjTii Fagus americana. These leaves, 

 as figured, show a close resemblance to our specimens, and also 

 to a fragmentary specimen from the Pleistocene of Maryland 

 depicted by the writer^' and described as Fagus sp.f " 



Whether or not these specimens, as well as ours, should all 

 be referred to the existing species may best be regarded merely 

 as a matter of individual opinion. 



It may, however, be pertinent here to call attention to the 

 fact that almost equally satisfactory comparisons may be made 

 with certain Tertiary species, such as Fagus deucalionis linger^* 

 of the Old World ; F. Antipofii Abieh and M. macropliylla linger, 

 as depicted by Heer^'' from the Miocene of Alaska, and by Les- 



15 (a), Berry, E. W. Pleistocene plants from Virginia. Torreya, vol. 6, p. 88. 

 1906. Contributions to the Pleistocene flora of Xortli Carolina. Jour. Geology, vol. 

 15, p. 341. 1907. 



(b), Meehan, Thos., in Mercer, H. C. The bone cave at Port Kennedy, Penn- 

 sylvania, and its partial excavation in 1894, 1895, and 1896. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila- 

 delphia, Jour. vol. 11, pt. 2, p. 279, fg. 8 (15). Ap. 24, 1899. 



i« Berry, E. W. Pleistocene plants from North Carolina. U. S. Geol. Survey, 

 Prof. Paper 140-C, p. 108, pi. 48, figs. 3-13. 1926. 



1" Holliek, Arthur. Md. Geol. Survey, Pliocene and Pleistocene, p. 226, pi. 70, 

 fig. 3. 1906. 



18 Unger, Franz. Chloris protogaea, p. 101, pi. 27, figs. 5, 6. 1847. 



19 Heer, Oswald. Flora fossilis arctica, vol. 2, pt. 2 (Fossile flora von Alaska), 

 pi. 7, figs. 4-6, 8. 1869 {=F. Antipofii). Idem, pi. 8, fig. 2 (=F. macropliylla) . 



