114 
This characteristic species is of a type commonly referred to Rhamnus 
or Cornus, and is not unlike numerous North American occurrences that 
have been identified as representing the European Miocene species Cornus 
studeri Heer, as for example, the Fort Union forms so determined by Ward 1 . 
I have recently referred the Wilcox Cornus studeri to the genus Rhamnites, 
and it is probable that all of the American forms should be considered 
to represent Rhamnus rather than Cornus. The present species, which 
is narrower and more elongated, more acuminate, and with more ascending 
secondaries than the above-mentioned leaves, comes from Kitsilano. 
Family, sterculiaceae (?) 
Pterospermites alaskana Knowlton 
Pterospermites alaskana Knowlton, Harriman Alaska Exped., vol. 4, p. 
156, PI. 26, fig. 2, PI. 32, 1904. 
Described originally from the Kenai beds of Kukak bay, Alaska, a 
single large and characteristic leaf is contained in the collection from 
Newhykulston creek. 
The question of the relationship of this supposed extinct genus to the 
existing genus Pterospermum of the family Sterculiaceae is by no means 
a settled one, and without anything to add to the subject I have followed 
precedent in the above identification. 
Order, Thymeleales 
Family, latjraceae 
Sassafras selwyni Dawson 
Plate XIV, figures 1-4 
Sassafras selwyni Dawson, Geol. Surv., Canada, Rept. of Prog. 1879-1880, 
p. 53A, 1881; Trans. Roy. Soc., Can., vol. 4, sec. 4, p. 28, PI. 2, 
fig. 13, 1886; Penhallow, Rept. Tert. PI. Brit. Col., p. 87, 1908; 
Berry, Bot. Gaz., vol. 34, p. 442, 1902. 
Sassafras cretaceum Penhallow, Geol. Surv., Canada, Sum. Rept. 1904, p. 7, 
1905. 
Sassafras f err etianum Heer (not Massalongo), FI. Foss. Arct. Bd. 2, p. 474, 
PI. 50, figs. 1, 2, 1869; Bd. 7, p. 103, PL 97, fig. 5, 1883. 
Although the leaves of Sassafras contained in the collection from 
Joseph creek do not agree precisely with Dawson’s type, they show a great 
deal of variation in both size and form, and, in my judgment, represent 
the same, species that Dawson described. If this is true then the specimens 
listed by Penhallow from Quilchena, B.C., as Sassafras cretaceum (?) are 
also to be referred to this species, since some of the material from Joseph 
creek is very similar to what some authors have identified as Sassa- 
fras cretaceum. 
Sassafras selwyni has been previously recorded from Souris river, 
Porcupine creek, and Quilchena. In discussing this species in 1902 (op. 
cit.) I remarked that the rounded base and basal primaries precluded 
considering it a true Sassafras, but this statement no longer holds, since 
i Ward, L. F.. U.S. Geol. Surv., Bull. 37, p. 55, PI. 26, fig. 1, 1887. 
