138 Guide to Fossil Plants. 



GALLEEY and habit of growth of a very large Equisetum, In the flora of 

 ^' the Triassic period the Cycads become more conspicuous ; in the 

 13 & 14 l^ermian and Carboniferous rocks very few specimens have been 

 Table- found. The family of the CycadacecB, represented at the present 

 25^21 i^'^Q by Cycas, Zamia, Encephalartos, and other genera confined 

 to tropical regions, was in former ages very widely distributed. 

 In the Jurassic rocks of the Yorkshire coast and elsewhere, the 

 pinnate leaves of cycads are exceedingly numerous ; good examples 

 of these are shown in Table-cases 25, 24, and 23, and in Wall- 

 cases 13 and 14. Numerous ferns and conifers are also exhibited 

 among the Jurassic plants ; among the former the genus Matoni- 

 diuni is of special interest in that it agrees very closely with 

 Maionia pectinata, a fern now confined to Mount Ophir in the 

 Malacca Peninsula. Of the Conifers the genus Ginkgo (Salisburia), 

 which survives at the present day only in China and Japan, is 

 represented by numerous fossil leaves agreeing in form with those 

 of the single living species. A few specimens of cycads and 

 conifers from the Lias of Lyme Regis are shown in Table-case 25 

 and Wall-case 13; also, against the pier between Wall-cases 13 

 and 14, a large branch of a conifer lying in a bed of shale, con- 

 taining numerous Ammonites. 



Passing to the Wealden plants in Table-cases 22 and 21 and 

 Wall-case 13, we find a striking similarity, as regards the general 

 character of the specimens, with those from Jurassic rocks. 

 Several exceptionally fin© examples of cycadean leaves and 

 other plants have recently been acquired from Mr. P. Rufford, 

 of Hastings, by whom they were obtained from Wealdea strata 

 on the Sussex coast. By far the finest specimen of a cycadean 

 stem hitherto found in a fossil state in England is the Cycadeoidea 

 gigantea, placed between Wall-cases 13 and 14, recently found in 

 the Purbeck rocks of Portland. The preservation of the apical 

 bud is a feature of particular interest. The genus Bennettites is 

 of great importance from a botanical point of view ; the stems 

 of this plant exhibit an exceedingly perfect internal structure, 

 also the inflorescence and seeds containing small embryos. The 

 peculiar fossils from Jurassic and Wealden rocks known as 

 miliatnsonia are probably detached inflorescences of this plant. 

 Whilst agreeing with cycads in many respects, it differs from 

 them especially in the nature of its inflorescence. 



In CjiETACEous rocks above the Wealden beds plants are by no 



