404 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



eastern part of North America; but it is somewhat sugges- 

 tive of the type of leaves found on certain of the Mexican and 

 Central American species, such as Quercus cyclohalanoides Tre- 

 lease, Q. Galeottii Martens, Q. insignis Martens & Galeotti, and 

 Q. odcarpa Liebmann ; but none of these species has quite the 

 fine denticulations that are characteristic of our leaves. For 

 purposes of comparison, however, a leaf of Q. Galeottii is figured 

 (plate 44, FIGURE 3), representing a specimen collected in 

 Mexico. 



A well-defined and unique fossil species that is strildngly 

 similar to ours is Quercus nevadensis Lesquereux,^" from the 

 Tertiary (Miocene) gravels of California. Our specimens are 

 larger than are those figured by Lesquereux, and the secondary 

 nerves appear to be somewhat more ascending, but, except for 

 the difference in size, it would not be easy to differentiate be- 

 tween them. In any event it is evident that they both belong 

 to a type of oak that was characteristic of the western part of the 

 North American continent in late Tertiary and, possibly. Qua- 

 ternary tune, and that their most nearly related existing species 

 are, apparently, certain of those that now live in that region, 

 further to the south. 



Incidentally, in this connection, the following comments on 

 Q. nevadensis by Lesquereux {op. cit., p. 6) are of interest: 

 "This species has not any marked relation with any [other] 

 fossil one. By the nervation, and somewhat also by the form of 

 the leaves, it is allied to Q. castanea AVilld., of the present flora 

 of North America, but still more to a section of Mexican Oaks, 

 whose coriaceous leaves are bordered with short distant teeth: 

 Q. Humholdti, Q. glaucescens Humb. and Bonpl., Q. spicata 

 Kunth, etc." 



The specific name is given in honor of Dr. S. J. Schofield, to 

 whom we are indebted for the collection of the specimen. 



2" Lesquereux, Leo. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard Coll., Mem. vol. 6, no. 2 (Eeport 

 on the fossil plants of the auriferous gravel deposits of the Sierra Nevada), p. 5, pi. 2, 

 figs. 3, 4. 1878. 



