212 THE MEDALS OF CREATION. Cnap. VI. 
The fruits and stems of Palms, Conifers, and many dicoty- : 
ledons, may be collected in the Isle of Sheppey, and other 
places where the London Clay is exposed. (See Hxcwrsion 
to the Isle of Sheppey, Part IV.) Cycadeous stems and 
coniferous wood may be procured in the Isle of Portland ; 
from the Wealden Cliffs along the southern shore of the 
Isle of Wight; and on the Sussex coast, from Bexhill, by 
St. Leonard’s, to the east of Hastings. The foliage of several 
species of Zamiz and ferns, occur abundantly in the lower 
Oolite, along the Yorkshire coast, near Scarborough, and at 
Gristhorpe Bay. The Lias of Lyme Regis, Charmouth, and — 
their vicinity, affords stems and branches of coniferous trees, — 
and leaves of cycads. 
Ferns, Sigillarize, Calamites, and the usual plants of the 
carboniferous flora, may be found in every coal-mine; and — 
the Devonian limestones of the South of Ireland yield ferns 
and Lepidodendra. In Forfarshire the lower Devonian shales 
abound in the foliage of aquatic, apparently fluviatile, plants.* 
~ 
A list of some of the most productive British localities is — 
subjoined. 
In addition to the suggestions already given as to the — 
mode of collecting specimens, it may be necessary to state — 
that the leaves in the tertiary marls and clays are generally — 
very delicate and friable, and liable to flake off in the state — 
of a carbonaceous film. This may, in a great measure, be | 
prevented by carefully covering them with a thin coating 
either of mastic varnish, or gum-water, before they are 
placed in the cabinet. In extracting these specimens, a 
broad chisel will be found the most convenient instrument. — 
In searching for fossils in coal-mines, the collector should 
remember that the ironstone nodules often contain beautiful : 
examples of the leaves of ferns, and fruits of Lepidodendra. — 
These nodules, when of an oblong shape, should be split open — 
in a longitudinal direction, by a smart blow of a hammer, 
* See Memoir on the TeLerreton ; Geol. Journ. vol.viii. p. 106. 
