ZAMITES OVATUS. 155 
into the rachis ; thus resembling the foliage of the recent 
Encephalartos. With these leaves, and the ovate cones 
(Lign. 48), are occasionally found a circle of leaves or elon- 
gated scales, locally termed “ collars,’ which Professor Wil- 
liamson has shown to be a zone formed by a scaly bud in 
which the germ of the plants was inclosed. In the progress 
of development, the fruit burst through the upper part of 
the investing sheath, and, as it grew to maturity, rose above 
the incurved elongated bracteze, till the latter formed a zone 
or “collar” around the pedicle of the cone.* These fossils 
have been mistaken for flowers.t 
It does not appear that the structure of the cone has been 
preserved in any of the specimens, so as to demonstrate the 
characters of the original ; in all those I have examined, 
the surface of the fruit is concealed by the elongated 
bracteze, which are pressed flat, and adhere so firmly to the 
inclosed body, as to render it impossible to ascertain its 
nature.t Mr. Williamson is of opinion that the plant 
resembled the recent Cycas circinalis, in its great height, 
and lax habits; and states, that he had seen portions of 
leaves that were three feet in length. 
ZAMITES crassus. Lign. 49, jig. 1.—In Sandown Bay, 
on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, where the Wealden 
beds rise to the surface from beneath the lowest strata 
of Greensand on the east and west, several cones have been 
found, associated with other vegetable remains, and bones 
of the Iguanodon, &c. A fossil cone from this locality is 
here figured ; it bears considerable resemblance to the fruit 
of the recent Hncephalartos, 
Zamites ovatus. Lign. 49, fig. 2.—A few examples of 
cycadeous fruits have been collected from the Greensand of 
Kent and Sussex. The beautiful fossil represented, Lign. 
49, fig. 2, from Foss. Flor. is referred to the Zamiz, by 
* Proc. Yorkshire Philos. Soc. 1849, p. 45. 
¢ Bird’s Yorkshire, tab. i. figs. land 7. + Brit. Mus. Petrif. p. 55. 
