34 



undergone no sudden or violent change since those animals inhabited 

 it, which is proved by the absence of all traces of diluvial action in 

 the enveloping alluvium or surrounding country. 4th. That what- 

 ever changes of temperature may have taken place since that time, 

 fatal to the existence of those mammalia, the identity of the fossil 

 with the existing species of the marine shells of the coast shows that 

 the temperature of the ocean at a period prior to the existence of 

 the megatherium, the mastodon, and the hippopotamus was such as 

 is congenial to the present marine testacea of Georgia, 



" Description of some Fossil Fruits from the Chalk-formation of 

 the South-east of England." By Gideon Algernon Mantell, LL.D., 

 F,R.S.. &c. ' 



The fruits described are three in number, viz. — 



1. Zamia Sussexiensis, Mantell. — From the greensand. A cone 

 allied to the Zamia maa'ocephala, a greensand fossil from Kent, 

 figured in Lindley and Hutton's ' Fossil Flora,' pi. 125, from which 

 it differs in form and in the number, size, and shape of its scales, 

 which are more numerous, smaller and more oblong than in the 

 Kentish species. It is five inches long, and at the greatest circum- 

 ference measures six inches. It was found about two years ago in 

 an accumulation of fossil coniferous wood in a sand-bank at Selmes- 

 ton, Sussex, at the junction of the Shanklin sand v/ith the gault. 

 Dr. Mantell having sent a cast of the only specimen found to M. 

 Adolphe Brongniart, that distinguished botanist suggested that it 

 might be either the stem of a young cycadaceous plant or the fruit 

 of a Zamia, but the sitpation and small size of the stalk at the base 

 and the appearance of the scales, induce Dr. Mantell to refer it to 

 the latter. 



2. Abies Benstedi, Mantell. — From the greensand near Maidstone, 

 Kent. A beautiful cone found by Mr. W. H. Bensted in the quarry 

 in which the remains of the Iguanodon were discovered in 1834,, 

 where it was associated with Fucus Targionii, and some indetermi- 

 nate species of the same genus ; stems and apparently traces of the 

 foliage of endogenous trees allied to the Dracana (Sternbergia), and 

 of trunks and branches of Conifer(B. The wood occurs both in a 

 calcareous and siliceous state. The cone found is in every respect 

 such a fruit as the trees to whith the wood belonged might have 

 borne. It bears a close resemblance to a fossil from the greensand 

 of Dorsetshire, discovered by Dr. Buckhmd, and figured in the ' Fos- 

 sil Flora' of Great Britain under the name of Abies ohlonga (Fos. Fl. 

 pi. 1.). Unfortunately the outer surface is so much worn that the 

 external figure of the scales cannot be accurately defined ; but the 

 sections show their proportionate thickness. There is an opening 

 at the base of the cone occasioned by the removal of the stalk, and 

 an accidental oblique fracture exhibits the internal structure. In the 

 longitudinal section thus exposed the scales are seen to be rounded 

 and broad at their base and to rise gradually, and become thin at 

 their outer terminations. The seeds are oblong, and one seed is 

 seen imbedded within the base of each scale. Mr. Morri«. considers 



