ON THE HIGHER EOCENE BEDS OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 419 



The associated bones of a young crocodile were found by us near the 

 same spot. 



About half-way down, as nearly as we could judge, and associated 

 with Melania turrltissima, we came upon a patch about 30 yards long and 

 3 or 4 yards wide, almost made up, to a depth of nearly 6 inches, of the 

 detached leaves of a finely cut Myrica. These measure from 2 to 3 

 inches in length, and from a little over a 16th to a little under a quarter of an 

 inch in breadth. The vast majority are black in colour and rather curled or 

 shrivelled at the edges. A small proportion are larger, brown, and trans- 

 parent-looking, clearly exhibiting the venation, and are quite flat. I had 

 previously regarded fragments of this plant from the Insect bed of 

 Gurnet Bay as Oleichenm, but the more perfect specimens now obtained 

 prove the venation to be that of a dicotyledon. A narrow-leaved reed 

 was massed together not far off in a similar way. 



A little above the band of septarian stone in which insect and veget- 

 able remains occur so plentifully farther east, we found a few dicotyledo- 

 nous leaves, and pinnae of Chrysodium latizceMium, in dark sandy clay, 

 and some twigs of the conifer which so curiously resembles in its foliage 

 the Doliostrobus found at Aix in beds of not very dissimilar age (pi. III., 

 fig. 32). They are perfectly preserved, and have now been found asso- 

 ciated with the detached scales of a cone, confirming the correctness of 

 their reference to Doliostrobus. At a somewhat corresponding horizon 

 on the Newtown River side, we found the winged seed of the Engel- 

 hardtia, so abundant in the Insect bed, and other dicotyledonous 

 remains. 



The sm&W pine cone figured (pi. III., fig. 31) was probably washed out 

 of the same bed. The specimen is now wholly pyrites, excepting a small 

 core of lignite to each scale, and the internal structure is invisible. The 

 scale heads are hexagonal and considerably raised, and the pine appears to 

 have belonged to the same section as P. Mugho and its allies. No Terti- 

 ary species at all resembling it has been described. 



A little lower down, among Gyrena pulchra, the small-leaved Sahal 

 (pi. v., fig. 1), or other fan-palm occurs, and is distinguished by its long, 

 smooth, and slender foot-stalk. 



We see from the foregoing that the number of plants in the Hamstead 

 beds proper is exceedingly restricted, and affords no adequate grounds for 

 their correlation with the Bovey Tracey deposits. The common fossils 

 of Bovey are the common fossils of the black beds of Bournemouth 

 while the common plants of Hamstead are not found beyond the limits 

 of the Isle of Wight, with the exception of Garpolithes Websteri. The 

 flora of that part of the Hamstead series, called the Bembrido-e marls 

 is considerably richer, and anyone living on the spot could, doubtless 

 vastly increase the number of species known, as Mr. A'Court Smith has 

 done from the ' Insect bed,' ' but neither its prevailing palms conifers 

 ferns, nor fruits have been found at Bovey, with the possible exception of 

 GarpoUthes Websteri. In descending through the Headons the number ot 

 plants continually increases, until in the Bournemouth beds beneath, a truly 

 astounding variety is met with, scarcely, I should think, to be paralleled 

 in any country at the present day. We seem as the plants diminish in 



' I was able on a recent visit to Gurnet Bay, in company with the Marquis de 

 Saporta, to identify the following additional plants in Mr. Smith's collection: Cin- 

 namomum lanceolatum, C. polymorj)hu'm, ZizypMos Ungeri, species of Rhus, Vibur- 

 num, and Ficus, and a Lygodiuvi. 



B B 2 



