Mr. W. Pengelly on the Lignites and Clays of Bovey Tracey. 175 
show that the uppermost division could not have been formed under 
the same conditions, nor probably in the same geological period as 
the two lower series. This view has been confirmed by the identifi- 
cation of certain fossil leaves found in the clays of the uppermost series. 
_ The two lower series are strictly conformable, and dip 123°, 
towards 8. 35° W. (mag.). Five beds—one of clay and four of 
lignite—in the second series, and nine—one of clay and eight of 
lignite—in the lower, a total of fourteen, have yielded fossils, all of 
them remains of plants only. A few only of these beds require par- 
ticular mention. The seventh bed is, in many places, a mat of the 
débris of a coniferous tree, the Sequoia Couttsie, and fronds of 
ferns, chiefly Pecopteris lignitum. The seventeenth bed contains a 
large number of dicotyledonous leaves. The twenty-fifth is that in 
which the so-called “ flabelliform leaves ’’ of Dr. Croker occur; they 
have been decided to be large rhizomes of ferns. The twenty-sixth, 
a bed of clay, is richer than any other in the number and variety of 
its fossils, which consist of dicotyledonous leaves, seeds of various 
kinds, and débris of Sequoia stems, leaves, fruits, and seeds. Remains 
of the last occur, in well-marked specimens, in the fortieth and 
sixty-third beds; so that it ranges throughout the formation, both 
divisions of which, therefore, belong to one organic period. The 
forty-sixth bed abounds in the seeds described by Dr. Hooker as 
Folliculites minutulus, but which Professor Heer has recognized as 
Carpolithes Kaltennordheimensis. 
The lignite has frequently a “charred” appearance ; and it is diffi- 
eult to believe that it has not undergone true combustion in the beds, 
the ignition being spontaneous. 
Coal has been found upwards of 170 feet below the surface of the 
plain, and there are reasons for believing that the deposit is fully 300 
feet in depth. 
On the advice of Dr. Falconer, the fossils have been submitted to 
Professor Heer of Ziirich, who has found amongst them 49 species of 
plants, eight of which were found by himself during a personal inyes- 
tigation of the deposit. Many of these are entirely new to science, 
whilst the others are well known as continental representatives of 
the lower miocene age. In addition to these, four species have 
been identified in the uppermost or gravel division, ag belonging to 
the diluvial period, ‘‘ that is, a period when the climate of Devon- 
shire was colder than at present.” 
The deposit is eminently freshwater, and must have been formed 
in a lake, the bottom of which is, at present, at least 30 fathoms 
below the level of ordinary spring-tide high water. It appears pro- 
bable that the waters of this miocene lake were separated from the 
ocean by a barrier which crossed the present tidal estuary of the 
Teign, and over this the surplus waters passed to the sea; or that 
they formed a lower outlet in the valley between Newton and Tor- 
quay ; the first seems, from the physical characters of the two 
valleys, to have been the most probable course. During the investi- 
gation a search was made for fossils at the clay-works of Aller, 
Kingsteignton |jand Decoy, all near Newton Abbot; nothing was 
