192 THE MEDALS OF CREATION. Cuap. VI. 
4 
; 
the Nipadites Burtoni: the others are WV. lanceolata (Lign. — 
63, fig. 9), and V. Parkinsoni (Pictorial Atlas, plate vii.). — 
These fossil nuts closely resemble the fruit of Vipas fruticans, — 
a palm which abounds in the delta of the Ganges, and other — 
parts of Bengal, and is the only living species of the genus 
known.* In an immature or abortive specimen of Vipadites — 
giganteus (of Bowerbank), figured in Geol. Journ. pl. xix. 
fig. 2, the angularity of the pericarp observable in the 
ripe fruit (Lign. 63. fig. 9) is well marked. The largest 
specimen of Nipadites from Schaerbeek, is above seven inches — 
long and four wide. The arenaceous strata containing these 
fruits, and stems of palms and dicotyledonous trees, are sup- 
posed to have been formed in the sea near the mouth of a 
river, as in the case of the clay-beds at Sheppey: the vege- 
table remains are associated with bones of fresh-water Turtles, 
teeth of Sharks, cases and spines of Echinoderms, and shells 
of the genera Ostrea, Pinna, &c.t 
Fosstr Fruit oF Panpanus. (Popocarya. Bd. pl. Ixii. 
p. 503.) — The Pandanacee are monocotyledonous trees, 
named Screw Pines from the spiral insertion of their long, 
rigid, sword-like leaves, along the stem ; they are natives of 
hot climates, and abound in the groups of islands in the 
Pacific ; being generally the first important vegetable tenants 
of the newly-formed Atols or coral-islands. As in the palms, 
the stem is supported near the base by long side-roots, which — 
enable these trees to maintain an erect position, and flourish — 
on the newly-elevated coral-reefs, where but little soil has 
accumulated. 
The existence of this tribe of plants during the secondary 
ages 18 known only by a single example of a fossil fruit, 
* “On the Belgian Tertiary Formations,” Geol. Journal, vol. viii. — 
p. 344. 
+ Geol. Journal, vol. viii. p. 347. 
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