50 Geological Society. 



which numerous specimens of Endogenites erosa have been found ; 

 and the large number of specimens exposed during the progress 

 of the works, has brought to light some additional circumstances 

 respecting this singular vegetable. The specimens, which were 

 found lying horizontally, in a stratum composed of sand with al- 

 ternate 'layersjjf clay, consist of two portions, perfectly distinct from 

 each other: 1st, An external coating of lignite; within which is, 

 2ndly, A stony kernel or nucleus, the internal structure of which 

 has been already described*. The general form of the whole ap- 

 pears to have been originally nearly cylindrical, and this has been 

 modified by pressure, so that the transverse section both of the 

 masses, and of the tubular cavities within, generally approaches 

 to an oval figure. The specimens differ very much in size; being 

 from less than one foot to nine feet in length ; the stony matter 

 within occupying, in the largest, about 5 feet, with a thickness 

 of 6 to 9 inches, and a general width of about 1 foot. This stony 

 nucleus was invested with a coating of coal, from -r^th to i an inch 

 in thickness, which was found to extend, at both extremities, 2 

 or 3 feet beyond the nucleus. The external surface of the coaly 

 covering is uniform and smooth, of a light brown colour, and glis- 

 tening: but neither in this surface, nor in the coal beneath, could 

 anv traces of organization be discovered. Thin polished slices of 

 the nucleus were exhibited. 



A ledge which is observable on the shore below St. Leonard's, 

 may be traced thence in the cliffs, through the site of the church, 

 and westward to the summit of the hill above the Sussex Hotel. In 

 this group also, a specimen of Endogenites was found by Wood- 

 bine Parish, Esq. ; by which and other circumstances it is identi- 

 fied with that of the White-rock ledge: and from its including also 

 a thin band of siliceous conglomerate, abounding in the remains of 

 animals like those of the well-known grit of Tilgate Forest, — the 

 teeth and bones, especially, of the Iguanodon of Mantell, — there 

 can be no doubt of its geological identity with some of the strata 

 of that place. 



The coast sections, described in this paper, will be useful in 

 assisting to determine the order of succession in the Hastings 

 Sands; a point of difficulty, from the great similarity, both in the 

 rocks, and the included fossils, of the several members composing 

 that formation : and the author thinks it deserving of inquiry, 

 whether the Ashburnham group, which has hitherto been referred 

 to the lower portion of the Hastings Sands, may not be identical 

 with some of these groups upon the shore, — and, consequently, may 

 not belong in reality to the upper part of the formation. 



A letter was afterwards read from Woodbine Parish, Esq., ad- 

 dressed to George Bellas Greenough, Esq., P.G.S., accompanying a 

 collection of fossils made by Mr. Parish during the last summer at 

 St Leonard's. 



These fossils Mr. Parish states were principally found in a layer of 

 very compact conglomerate varying from 1 inch to 3 inches in thick- 



• Geol. Trans., 2nd Series, vol. i. p. 423: and Mantell's Tilgate Fossils. 



