72 Geological Society. 



2. Abies Benstedi, Mantell. — From the greensand near Maidstone, 

 Kent. A beautiful cone found by Mr. W. H. Bensted in the quarry- 

 in which the remains of the Iguanodon were discovered in 1834, 

 where it was associated with Fucus Targionii, and some indetermi- 

 nate species of the same genus ; stems and apparently traces of the 

 foliage of endogenous trees allied to the Dracoina (Sternbergia), and 

 of trunks and branches of Coniferce, The wood occurs both in a 

 calcareous and siliceous state. The cone found is in every respect 

 such a fruit as the trees to which the wood belonged might have 

 borne. It bears a close resemblance to a fossil from the greensand 

 of Dorsetshire, discovered by Dr. Buckland, and figured in the ' Fos- 

 sil Flora' of Great Britain under the name of Abies oblonga (Fos. Fl. 

 pi. 1.). Unfortunately the outer surface is so much worn that the 

 external figure of the scales cannot be accurately defined ; but the 

 sections show their proportionate thickness. There is an opening 

 at the base of the cone occasioned by the removal of the stalk, and 

 an accidental oblique fracture exhibits the internal structure. In the 

 longitudinal section thus exposed the scales are seen to be rounded 

 and broad at their base and to rise gradually, and become thin at 

 their outer terminations. The seeds are oblong, and one seed is 

 seen imbedded within the base of each scale. Mr. Morris considers 

 it to have a great affinity to Abies oblonga of Lindley and Hutton, 

 but it is more spherical, and the scales are smaller, more regular 

 and numerous. 



3. Carpolithes Smithice, Mantell. — From the white chalk of Kent. 

 An account of an imperfect specimen of this fruit was formerly given 

 by Dr. Mantell in his ' Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex.' He 

 lately detected a second and more perfect example in the choice col- 

 lection of Mrs. Smith of Tunbridge Wells, in honour of whom he 

 has named it. Dr. Mantell remarks, that a slight inspection was 

 sufficient to determine its vegetable origin, for several seeds were 

 imbedded in its substance, and others had been detached in clearing 

 it from the chalk. Dr. Robert Brown suggested that the original 

 was probably a succulent compound berry, the seeds appearing to 

 have been imbedded in a pulpy substance like the fruit of the mul- 

 berry, which is a spurious compound berry, formed by a partial 

 union of the enlarged and fleshy calices, each inclosing a dry mem- 

 branous pericarp. 



From the occurrence of the cones above described with the drifted 

 remains of land and freshwater reptiles peculiar to the Wealden, 

 Dr. Mantell infers that these fruits belong to the flora of the coun^ 

 try of the Iguanodon. 



" Notice on the fossilized remains of the soft parts of MoUusca." 

 By Gideon Algernon Mantell, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. 



Substances presenting the same general appearance and composi- 

 tion with coprolites, but destitute of the spiral structure, are thickly 

 interspersed among the shells which abound in the rocks of firestone 

 or upper greensand at Southborne in Sussex, sometimes occurring 

 in the state of casts of shells of the genera Cucullcea, Venus, Trochus, 

 Rostellaria, &c., from the soft bodies of which testacea Dr. Mantell 

 considers them to have originated. They abound also in the layers 



