514 KEPOET— 1882. 



The Apetalse, illustrated by Popnlus, Ulmus, Lmirus, Quercus, Artocarpidium , 

 and Daphnof/ena, with. Caipinus, Fagus, Castanen, Salix, and Ficus, and numerous 

 Proteacefe. 



Elceodendron, Rhamnus, Primus. Jiu/lans, Cluytia, Ceraf.opetalum, with Dodonaa, 

 Celastrus, Eucalyptus, and many Leguminosa, illustrate and characterise the Poly- 

 petalag. 



Cactus and Stenocarpus are added for the first time to the Eocene dicotyledons. 



Mr. Gardner believes that we have probably represented almost every genus 

 descended from Continental floras. 



The Eocene flora presents us with types peculiar to the Southern Hemisphere, 

 and related to those of Australia and the adjacent islands. AVe hare examples of 

 this southern flora through the Proteacece, Lpyuminoscc, C'onif era;, and the Mi/rtacece, 

 through Eucalyptus} 



Isle of Wight. 



The present rhomboidal form or configuration of the Isle of Wight is due partly 

 to the unequal action of the sea on its coast line, and partly to those disturbances 

 or movements which have thrown some of its strata into the positions exhibited at 

 Scratchell's Bay, Alum Bay, and Whiteclift' I'ay. 



The rapid waste of the clifl's going on at Sandown and Freshwater Baj-s is due 

 to the action of the sea, the Lower Greensand and Wealden strata there exposed 

 beino- more easily destroyed than the chalk. 



The leading physical feature in the structure of the Isle of AVight consists in 

 the ridge of high and bare clialk downs near tlie centre of the island extending from 

 the Needles on the west to Culver Clift' on the east. Another chalk range parallel 

 to the former, but on the south of the island, extends from St. Catherine's Down on 

 tbe west to Boniface Down on the east. In the space occupied between these two 

 chalk ranges (upper cretaceous rocks), there occurs the complete succession of the 

 lower cretaceous and lacustrine Wealden groups, comprising the Hastings sand and 

 Weald clay exposed at Compton Bay and Ilock Point on the west, and Sandown 

 Bay on the eastern side. The central ridge is depressed and cut through by trans- 

 verse valleys ; such occur at Freshwater Gate, Shalcombe, Calbourn, and by the 

 Carisbrook, Medina, and Brading valleys. ' A.\\ these breaks may possibly be on 

 lines of faults running or cutting through at right angles to the strike of the 

 chalk.' 



The part of the Isle of Wight which lies to the north of the central chalk 

 range is entirely composed of the older Tertiary or Eocene strata. The only 

 fault of magnitude known in the island is that occurring along the line of the 

 Medina valley. Those on the eastern side of the river are the Ileadon, Osborne, 

 and St. Helen's series. The rocks at West Cowes, or west of the Medina, belong 

 to the Bembridge marls or fluvio-marine series. ' From the known thickness of the 

 several groups the amount of displacement which takes place on the line of fault 

 between East and West Cowes, or along the line of the Medina, cannot be less than 

 200 feet.' 



The longitudinal undulations aflecting or disturbing the Tertiary strata north of 

 the chalk ridges are less obvious than those above described. The chief flexures 

 which are in immediate sequence with the chalk are exhibited both at Whitecliff" 

 and Alum Bays, where the Lower and Middle Tertiaries are inclined at very high 

 angles. 



The first set, or the east and west undulations, are connected with the movement 

 that elevated the chalk vertically. The north and south undulations also aflectthe 

 chalk, since each north and south valley formed by the synclinal curve or hollow of 

 the roll, corresponds to the division between the two chalk downs, and each down 

 to an anticlinal. All the Lower Tertiary strata, including the fluvio-marine beds, are 

 aflected by these movements. 



' Mr. Gardner has been greatly aided in his floral researches by Baron Constantin 

 Ettingsbausen, Ph.D., who has brought to bear his great knowledge of fossil plants 

 and their distribution through the higher Tertiaries. The joint monograph by Messrs. 

 Gardner and Ettingsbausen on the ' British Eocene Flora,' in the Palieontographical 

 Society's volumes for 1879 is of the highest value to Palasobotanical students. 



I 



