410 Bibliographical Notices. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



A History of the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the London Clay. By- 

 James Scott Bowerbank, F.G.S., &c. With numerous Engra- 

 vings. Part I. London, Van Voorst, price 16s. 



We have here a work, which if carried through as it has been begun, 

 cannot fail to be of the highest interest and utility to the geologist 

 and the botanist. An extract from the Prospectus will best explain 

 what the author has undertaken, and the manner in which he pro- 

 poses to execute it. 



" Among the numerous and highly interesting fossils found in the Lon- 

 don clay, none are more abundant than the remains of fruits and seeds, 

 which, although occurring in such amazing quantities in the Isle of Sheppey, 

 have hitherto received but little attention from geologists, and consequently 

 present a wide field for inquiry and research. 



" For many years past the author of the present work has made these 

 interesting remains his peculiar study ; and during this period there have 

 passed through his hands more than 120,000 fruits and seeds, from which 

 he has selected about 25,000 specimens. He proposes to publish figures and 

 descriptions of as many of the species as can with certainty be determined ; 

 and, as a guarantee for the accuracy of the delineations, he considers it will 

 be sufficient to announce that the whole of the drawings and engravings will 

 be executed by Mr. James De Carle Sowerby. 



" In these beautiful remains of an extinct Flora, the minute and deli- 

 cately-formed vegetable tissues are preserved in the most perfect manner ; 

 and it is part of the Author's plan to give numerous highly magnified illus- 

 trations of the anatomical structure, as well as of the external form." 



It is obvious that the value of such a work must greatly depend 

 upon the execution of the figures. Lest we should therefore fail in 

 conveying to our readers an adequate idea of the force and accuracy 

 of the engravings, we have obtained the favour of the impressions 

 of Plate IV. which accompany our present number, and which may 

 serve to illustrate what we shall extract relative to Mr. Bowerbank's 

 first group, Nipadites, and the interesting species which it repre- 

 sents, Nipadites Parkinsonis. 



" The fruits of which this group is composed are found in considerable 

 abundance on the beach at Sheppey, forming a portion of the organic remains 

 impregnated with pyrites, so plentifully discovered there. They are known 

 among the women and children, by whom they are usually collected, by the 

 name of Figs. The epicarp and endocarp are thin and membranous ; the 

 sarcocarp is thick and pulpy, composed of cellular tissue, through which 

 i-un numerous bundles of vessels. The cells are about the eight hundredth 

 part of an inch in diameter. Nearly in the centre of the pericarp is situated 



