232 FOSSIL FRUITS. 



seed is thick and hard. The nucleus sometimes remains, but is dried up and no trace of organization left. 

 This species very much resembles, and so far as I can judge by a comparison of specimens, is identical with 

 the Carpolithus minutulus of Bronn's Lethea from the Brown Coal of Salzhausen. This fruit is one of 

 the most common at Brandon. 



Figs. 157 and 158 show the wrinkled skin of a fruit of about the size and having the aspect of a small 

 raisin, except that the color is lighter ; color sometimes almost white. This skin still retains its elasticity, 

 and is not changed to coal. The pulp still remains without much appearance of organization. 



Figs. 159 and 160 exhibit fragments of the hard external envelope of some seeds probably of some that 

 have been described. 



In the above list we have at least twenty-three distinct species of fruits and seeds ; namely, Figs. Ill, 

 118, 119, 121, 123, 129, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, 137, 139, 141, 142, 146, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 156 and 

 157. Doubtless an eye familiar with fossil fruits would distinguish more. 



The only other fossil fruits that I have known to be found in the newer formation of our 

 country, are a few from the tertiary strata at Richmond, Va. In respect to these, Prof. 

 Jeffries Wyman has kindly furnished me with the following description : 



" In my examination at Richmond, I have frequently found lignite, and occasionally 

 fruits ; but as I was more anxious for bones, I gave them but little attention. I have 

 indemnified a species of Carya (walnut) which was so pronounced by Mr. Teschemacher, 

 Prof. Agassiz, and Dr. Gray. I have also found one species of pine cone, in company 

 with pine lignite. The latter was interesting, as having changed, while lying on my 

 table, from the condition of rotten wood, soft enough to yield to the tip of the finger, into 

 lignite of the usual hardness and having the coal-like fracture. This, however, is no 

 uncommon occurrence, and is said to be well known to geologists. The piece of wood 

 just referred to had been bored by the Teredo. 



"The above are the only instances about which I would speak with any confidence. 

 I have also, from the same locality, a large mass of fossil resin. The vegetable fossils 

 there found, with the teeth of Phyllodus, Cetacea, reptiles, sharks, &c., show a close 

 resemblance of the Richmond formations to the London clay. I have in preparation a 

 short notice in which the animal fossils of the two are to be compared." 



CONCLUSIONS. 



Although the specific characters of the Brandon fossils are thus imperfectly known, the 

 facts detailed will warrant several inferences of importance in American geology. 

 I. The Brandon Deposit belongs to a tertiary formation. The following are the proofs : 



1. It lies below the drift ; and, for the most part, is not consolidated. Its position as to 

 the drift, is seen at the openings made near the carbonaceous deposit ; and the degree of 

 induration or rather, in general, the want of induration corresponds to that of most 

 tertiary deposits. 



2. It contains all the important varieties of rock found in tertiary deposits. We have 

 here white and variegated clays water-worn beds of sand and gravel, beds of carbon- 

 aceous matter not bituminous, and deposits of iron and manganese. 



II. The carbonaceous matter in this deposit is strikingly analogous to that of the brown coal 

 formation in Europe. 



