500 J. Starkie Gardner — Fossil Flowering Plants. 



P. elongatns, Endl. Synops. Conif. p. 286 ; Strobilites, Lind. and Hutt. Foss. Flora, 



vol. ii. p. 23, pi. 29. 

 C. Betistedi, Carr. Abies, Mant. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 51, pi. ii. fig. 



2, 1846. Pinites, Carr. Journ. Bot. Jan. 1867 ; Geol. Mag. Vol. III. p. 



541 ; Abietites, Goepp. Foss. Conif. p. 217. 

 Abies oblonga, Lind. and Hutt. vol. ii. p. 155, pi. cxxxvii. Supposed to be from 



Greensand, near Lyme Regis ; described by a misprint as from ' Dresent,' 



instead of 'present' sbore. Elate, linger, Syn. p. 199. Abietites, Goepp. 



Foss. Conif. p. 207. Pinites, Endl. Synops. Conif. p. 248 ; Carr. Geol. Mag. 



Vol. III. p. 541. (Professor "Williamson is describing a magnificent specimen 



of tbis or an allied form) . 

 Pinites gracilis, Carr. Gault, Folkestone, Geol. Mag. Vol. VI. p. 2, PL I. Fig. 9. 

 P. hexagonus, Carr. id. 1 Vol. VlII. p. 540, pi. XV. 

 Sequoiites Gardneri, Carr. id. Vol. VI. p. 2, PI. I. 

 Sequoiites ovalis, Carr. id. Vol. VIII. 

 Sequoiites Woodwardii, Carr. Geol. Mag. Vol. III. p. 544, PI. XXI. Fig. 11-16, 



Blackdown. 



We have now dealt with the more highly-organized of our 

 Mesozoic plants, and pass on to those of the Eocene. 



Among the most interesting of recent discoveries is that of plant 

 remains in a small sand-pit at Colden Common, between Bishopstoke 

 and Winchester, the first locality in the Hampshire basin that has 

 yielded any of Woolwich and Beading age. This was first com- 

 municated to us by Mr. Whitaker. who thought the leaves might 

 prove to be of London Clay age. They are, in fact, actually included 

 in its basement bed, and mingled with casts of marine shells and 

 sharks' teeth, but the blocks of clay with leaves are derived, though 

 other unfossiliferous clay-seams are in situ. If not of London Clay 

 age, however, they are much nearer to it than the Eeading flora, 

 which occurs below the great mass of mottled clay, whilst these 

 lie above it. The plants show in the main, as might be anticipated, 

 an approach to the Alum Bay flora, which is still higher and 

 above the London Clay ; but whether these leaves are connected 

 in any closer degree with the fruits of Sheppey than are those 

 from Woolwich, Croydon, or Bromley, is a question which we 

 have not as yet the data for answering. There are, at all events, 

 no remains of Palms among them, and this, so far as it goes, 

 is against the connection ; but on the other hand the fruits of an 

 Alnus, like that from Swale Cliff, abound. There is no large 

 variety among the leaves, the majority being large and simple, but 

 with highly serrate margins, and the species will not be found 

 to exceed 12 or 14 in number, including Platanus, which is rare. 



Though we have continued to collect at Beading, we have been 

 unable so far to determine any new species. The assemblage of 

 fruits at Sheppey, on the other hand, becomes of increasing interest, 

 and has proved unexpectedly rich in Palms, many of them apparently 

 identical with existing species which are now found growing in the 

 remotest regions. 



Besides the large variety of Nipas, which are still met with in 

 enormous abundance among the seed-vessels of the New Guinea 

 drift, we have seeds indistinguishable from Verschaffeltia splendida, 



1 A far larger specimen than tbat originally described, 8 inches long by If inches 

 in diameter, has since been found. 



