50 ranarAcnam AMD THEIR TEACHISG&. CHAP. i. 



feted, of small sflicified stems, from Chemnitz in Saxon j (I 

 beliere, from the carboniferous deposits), the internal structure 

 of which IB peculiar. The Tascular tissue resembles that of 

 Dracaena bat witii essential differences, which render it diffi- 

 euft to establish an v relatiou with existing types. M. Broug- 

 niart is of opinion that they will be found to belong to the 

 Cymdmam. 



PMHL PAOWL Cata D, E. [5. c.D.J-r-The trees of this . 

 family, the greater number of which inhabit intertropical 

 regions, are remarkable for their elegant form and pecu- 

 liar aspect They hare a single cylindrical stem, which rises 

 to a great height, and is crowned with a canopy of foliage, 

 the leaves being Tery large, and either pinnated or flabel- 

 fiform, and plaited in regular folds. The Date and CocoA-nut 

 are well-known examples of the fruit 'The surface of the 

 stem is scored with transverse scars left by the petioles. 



Ina fojdl state, the remains of this family are Tery abun- 

 dant ; the stems with their external characters and internal 

 organization preferred, and the leaves and the fruit, of several 

 extinct species, hare been discovered ; chiefly in tertiary de- 

 posits,* From the manner in which the specimens are 

 arranged in the collection, it will be convenient to notice in 

 the first place the fossil Palm-nuts in the case before us. 



FRUITS OF PALMS, from the Isle of Sheppey.Cose E.Qn 

 the right hand of the central compartment in this case, there 

 is a Tery small collection of fossil fruits, from the well-known 

 productiTe locality of this class of organic remains, the Isle of 

 Sheppey ; and it is much to be regretted that our National 

 Museum is so deficient in these most interesting relics of this 

 ancient tertiary flora; especially when from the unriTalled 

 and inexhaustible mine of these botanical treasures hi the 

 little Island at the mouth of the Thames, there might be ob- 

 tained in the course of a few months, and at a trifling cost, 

 a more extensive and important series of the fruit* of the 

 Eocene periods, than is contained in all the museums of 

 Europe. 



Kderring the reader to Medals of Creation," pp. 176, 

 897, for a particular account of the** fruits, and the cir- 



1 See * MedaU of Creation," p, 173. 



