148 MR. A. B. RENDLE’S REVISION 
impossible to keep them for any length of time, as they consist of 
a carbonized shell filled with sand, which rapidly crumbles on being 
taken from the damp sea-beach while the carbon film cracks and 
peels. One brought by Mr. Reid is preserved at Jermyn Street, 
and another, which I brought from West Wittering, is at the 
British Museum. Of the latter, Mr. Worthington Smith made 
careful natural-size drawings immediately on its arrival, and as 
he has sketched both the upper and lower surfaces as well as the 
sides, we have a fair record of the specimen which, in the efforts 
to preserve it, has become somewhat broken. 
One result obtained, besides a more satisfactory correlation 
of species and synonyms than hitherto realized, is the extension 
of the area of the genus in its largest species, V. Burtini, which, 
previously recognized only from Sheppey and the Brussels Eocene, 
is now, by Mr. Reid’s discovery, pushed westward to the west of 
Hampshire and, in Massalongo’s Paleokeura, eastward to North- 
east Italy. 
The conditions under which the fossil fruits are found show 
that, like their modern representatives, the palms grew in the 
rich brackish mud of the shore or river-mouth. Associated with 
the Sheppey fruits are remains of crabs, freshwater turtles, and 
a great variety of fruits and seeds, with some stems and branches ; 
such a collection of marine and freshwater organisms as is cha- 
racteristic of the delta of a large river. The great diversity of 
forms and the water-worn condition of many of the specimens 
indicate an assemblage brought together from a large area. On 
the other hand, the appearance of the fruits which I saw laid 
bare by the receding tide on the Sussex coast argues strongly 
for the view that they had grown close by. So uniform was 
their size and condition, that they might have fallen from one 
tree, and having germinated almost where they fell, left only an 
empty shell now filled by sand. Herein, too, they differ from all 
other specimens I have seen. The mineral cast of the interior 
of the London Clay and Belgian fruits which replaces the seed 
was evidently formed by the filtration of dissolved mineral matter 
through the pericarp, while the Sussex specimens are empty 
shells filled with sand pushed in from outside through the 
aperture left in germination. The absence of teredo-borings and 
water-wear favours this view ; but if this be the case, it is strange 
that there was no trace of the stem or leaves of the palm, which 
no one seems to have found in any of the localities. 'Water-worn 
