XXV111 INTKODUCTIOX. 



By 1854 the list of Lower Greensand plants in Morris' 

 Catalogue contained the following : 



Abietites Benstedi, from Maidstone. 



A. oblonya, ,, Lyme Regis. 



Chondrites faslif/idlut) Maidstone. 

 Draccena Benstedi, Maidstone. 



Lonchojtteris Mantelli, ,, Isle of Wight. 



Zamiostrobus Siisseviensis, Selmeston. 



Mr. Bensted himself gave an account of the Geology round 

 Maidstone (Bensted, 1862), in which he mentions the plants 

 found there, but he adds nothing new to the subject. 



In the same year Mackie (1862s) described and figured 

 the famous " Dragon-Tree '' (see p. 159), which he took to be 

 evidence of Monocotyledons at that date. Prom this time 

 onward there are frequent references to this fossil, which will 

 not be included here. 



The same year also saw the publication of Bristow's memoir 

 on the Isle of Wight. In the lists of fossils the following 

 Lower Greensand plants appear : 

 Actinophyllum sp. 

 Loncliopteris Mantelli. 

 Abietites Benstedi. 



He also quotes Paine & Way as saying (p. 15) : '* Amongst 

 the fossils there are large quantities of black fossil wood, 

 frequently encrusted with a grey cement of phosphate of lime 

 and sand. This wood is very rich in phosphoric acid." 



Carruthers began his series of papers on Lower Greensand 

 fossils in 1866 with one on the fossil fruits, in which he shortly 

 describes some previously known fossils, which he puts in the 

 genus Pinites, viz. P. oblonyus, P. Benatedi, P. Siissexiensis, 

 P. Mantdlii, and P. patens. In the following year he first 

 described the interesting Potton-Sand stem, Cycadcoidea Yatesii 

 (see p. 299), and in 1869 he again referred to Pinites Sussexi- 

 cn,and described and illustrated Pinites Leckenbyi (see p. 143), 

 which he recognized as being very like Cedrus. 



In 1870 Carruthers' most important work on the Lower 

 Greensand plants appeared, in which he gives short accounts 

 of Yatesia Morrisii (the same plant as Cycadeoidea Yatesii). 

 Bennettitcs nuuvimus, and Manfellia inclusa, as well as a long 



