XXVI INTRODUCTION. 



been discovered. The laminae of lignite in the upper ferru- 

 ginous beds, and obscure traces of fuci in some of the lower 

 sandstones, are the only indications of the flora of this geological 

 epoch that have come under my notice. But remains of the 

 foliage of a fern that abounds in the Wealden (Lonchopteris 

 Mantelli) were discovered by Mr. Morris in many of the strata 

 at Atherfield ; and the Messrs. Gladstone have since found 

 several leaflets of the same species associated with trigoniac, 

 etc., in the ironstone nodules at the foot of Shanklin Cliff." 



In Lindley & Mutton's well-known 4 Flora ' (1837) there is 

 only one Lower Greensand species, Abies oblong a, a cone, said 

 to be washed out of the Lower Greensand of Lyme Regis. 



Mantell (1839), referring to the fossils in Mr. Bensted's 

 Iguanodon Quarry in Kent, says (p. 398) : " Mr. Bensted has 

 also discovered fossil wood perforated by lithodami, or boring 

 shells ; impressions of leaves, stems of trees, ammonites, etc." 



In 1843 Mantell (p. 34) gives short preliminary accounts of 

 two cones of Lower Greensand age, which he names respec- 

 tively Zamia Susse.riensis and Abies Benstedi. 



By 1843 Morris lists the following species of plants in the 

 Lower Greensand : 



Abies Benstedi, from Maidstono. 



A. obloncja, ,, Lyme llegis. 



Dracama Benstedi, Maidstone. 

 Zainites Susseviensis, Selmeston. 



In the following year Mantell (1844) again refers to and 

 gives a popular account of the fossil wood found near Maidstone 

 and elsewhere, mentioning also the fossil cones. 



The important and detailed work of Ibbetson & Forbes (1844, 

 1845) contains but little reference to fossil plants, though, in 

 mentioning the changes of the shore-level (p. 193), they say 

 that " lignites, indicating a shallow sea, become common, form 

 belts in the ferruginous sarid,and in one place a bed in the navy 

 blue sand, at a time when much iron was deposited." In their 

 detailed list of the beds they make the following note : ** Bed 31. 

 Thin, very wavy lamiuaa of black clay (or lignite) full of pyrites, 

 with a layer of spongiform nodules near the bottom." 



In 1840 Manlell's fuller paper describing the two Lower 



