45*2 FOSSIL PLANTS OF BRITAIN. 



clay of Suffolk, have not been noticed in the present deposit, 

 whilst, on the other hand, there are no traces of the genus 

 Carcharias to favor the opinion of its age agreeing with that 

 of the crag. The average size of one hundred teeth, if com- 

 pared with the same number from the Harwich cliffs, will be 

 found about one third smaller. Their colour and general as- 

 pect corresponds most closely with the appearance presented 

 by the small sharks' teeth from Malta, and some of the con- 

 tinental tertiary deposits, and presents a singular contrast 

 to those found in the red crag, or the ordinary beds of the 

 London clay formation. As Mr. Wood has remarked, they 

 do not appear to have been subjected to the slightest boul- 

 dering, a circumstance satisfactorily established by the per- 

 fect condition of the lateral denticles. 



Art. VI. — A Systematic Catalogue of the Fossil Plants of Britain. 

 By John Morris Esq. 



The study of fossil Botany, equally interesting and impor- 

 tant as any other branch of Natural History, is rendered more 

 difficult in consequence of those parts which, in a recent 

 state, afford the most ready means of generic distinction, be- 

 ing rarely preserved : however, Botanists, well acquainted 

 with the structure of existing vegetation, have, by an atten- 

 tive examination of the best- preserved portions, been enabled 

 to decipher many of the characters of the ancient Flora. In 

 the present catalogue I have included not only the fossilized 

 remains peculiar to Britain, but many of the more interesting 

 specimens which have hitherto been found only in continen- 

 tal deposits. The general arrangement of the greater portion 

 of this catalogue, as well as the generic characters, have been 

 adopted from the views entertained in the works of Messrs. 

 Lindley and Hutton, 1 Witham, Brongniart, 2 Sternberg, 3 &c, 

 and for the cryptogamic part, more especially the Filices, to 



1 Iindl. and Hutt. ' The Fossil Flora of Great Britain,' by Lindley 

 and Hutton. London : 1831—1836. 



2 Brong. Prod. ' Prodrome d'une Histoire des Vegetaux Fossiles, » par 

 M. A. Brongniart. Paris: 1828. 



Brong. Hist. ' Histoire des Vegetaux Fossiles.' Paris : 1828. 



3 Sternb. ' Versuch einer geognostich-botanischen Darstellung der Flo- 

 ra der Vorwelt,' C. von Sternberg. Leipsie and Prague : parts i. — iv. tab. 

 1—58, 1820 ; parts v. and vi. tab. 1—26, 1833. 



