which are either the rudiments of a branch or of a 

 young plant. The living cycad has occasionally a 

 bud at the base of its stem representing a true bulbil, 

 which remains a considerable time in a state of inactivity, 

 and after sending out rootlets produces a leaf which is 

 at first simple, but afterwards becomes divided 

 into a few pinnules ; the young plant then assumes 

 the character of the parent. The leaves of 

 cycads, with one exception, are pinnate, adhering 

 laterally, or on the upper surface of the furrowed 

 rachis. The leaflets have simple parallel veins, and, 

 like ferns and grasses, decay on the stem ; but, owing 

 to the petiole being disarticulated, the portion nearest 

 its junction with the trunk remains attached, and 

 thus adds to its bulk. The flowers of this family are 

 all dioecious ; the male and female flowers of its 

 living members, with the exception of Cycas, resemble 

 fir cones externally, the carpel bearing only two 

 ovules, attached right and left to a peltate expansion 

 on a slender pedicel. 



The Purbecks already alluded to are the uppermost 

 beds of the oolitic series. This fluvio-lacustrine forma- 

 tion forms the limits of the great oolitic gulf of which 

 it forms its western boundary. The presence of all 

 kinds of aquatic, amphibious, and land-remains leads to 

 the inference that this great estuary, or lake, was in 

 contiguity with a continent, drained by a large river, 

 which supplied it with its varied land-spoils. 



The Dirt-Beds, in which so many vegetable remains 

 are found, are the first sediments that were deposited by 



