INTRODUCTION. XXV 



referring to them in 1828 (see 1835, p. 211) under the class 

 J'hanerogamia (Dicotyledonous) as " rolled fragments of wood 

 at the junction of the sand with the gait." It should be noted 

 that at this early date coniferous wood was described under 

 the term " Dicotyledonous," so that this entry is not a record 

 of angiospermic but of gymnospermic wood. 



In the same year Martin (1828, p. 28) writes : " Its common 

 iron-stone (car-stone) abounds most in the reddest beds of sand, 

 and exists in balls." ..." The nucleus of these balls is often 

 pyrites, or a ball of chlorite sand, and sometimes wood." Such 

 phrases are repeated in most of the works about this date (e. g., 

 Mantell, 1833, 1835, etc.). 



Fitton, in 1836 (p. 131), published a very clear account of the 

 three main divisions of the Lower Greensand, and, referring to 

 the neighbourhood of Folkestone, makes the following remark: 

 " Wood. Coniferous, silicified. Near Folkestone and Wils- 

 borough. llollcd fragments are frequent at the junction of the 

 (la ult with the top of the sands." And in the list of fossils 

 from the interior of Kent (p. 152) is the entry: "Wood, 

 Dicotyledonous [see note above]. Bougbton ; and near Brasted, 

 West Kent." 



In 1847 Mantell, describing the Isle of Wight, gives the 

 following classification of the beds (p. 64) : 



" GALT. 



A triple alternation of sand,"] ,, . 

 sanfUtonee .ind limestones, 



with dark stiff clays. Layers 



peculiar to this division 

 of the Chalk. Fishes, 



GKEENSAND. and concretions of chert, r crustaceallg ; bones o f 



Ironstone, fuller's - earth, {] ^ Fud . coni _ 



sulphate of barjtes, fibrous ferous wQod> ftnd ffuit 

 U gypsum, etc. J 



WEALD CLAYS.'' 



In referring to the Greensand fossils (p. 229) he remarks : 

 " The organic remains to be met with along this coast are almost 

 exclusively shells ; but few traces of the higher orders of animals, 

 or of plants, have hitherto been observed. It should, however, 

 be borne in mind, that remains of land reptiles, and trees, and 

 plants, have been found in strata of this formation in Kent ; 

 similar relics may therefore occur in the same deposits in the 

 Isle of Wight. Of the vegetable kingdom but few vestiges have 



