Ill] THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD 53 



Isle of Wight, in the Weald district of Kent and 

 neighbouring counties, point to the existence of a 

 lake over a portion of the south of England and of 

 the English Channel. The remains of a rich Wealden 

 flora have been collected from these Wealden sedi- 

 ments, notably from the plant-beds of Ecclesbourne 

 near Hastings, in which, so far as we know, flowering 

 plants played no part or at most occupied a very 

 subordinate position. A few fossil leaves have been 

 described from rocks assigned to a Wealden age, 

 — and from the older Stonesfield Slate, of Jurassic 

 age, a single leaf is recorded, — which seem to be 

 those of Dicotyledons ; but it is certain that even in 

 the early days of the Cretaceous period the present 

 dominant group in the plant kingdom was in its 

 infancy and in many regions probably unrepresented. 

 When we glance at the geological table and consider 

 that in all the floras from the Wealden down to the 

 Devonian period, flowering plants played no part, 

 we are able to appreciate the fact of their rapid 

 development, referred to in a previous chapter, when 

 once this highest type had become established. 



The rocks comprised in the Jurassic system extend 

 from East Yorkshire to the coast of Dorsetshire ; they 

 consist of a succession of limestones, clays, sandstones, 

 and a few thin beds of impure coal. Sediments of 

 this age also occur, though to a much less extent, 

 on the north-east coast of Scotland and in a few 



