38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Juiie 14, 



A specimen of the internal part of the stem of Endogenites erosa, 

 collected from the same locality, appeared to he solid throughout, 

 and therefore likely to retain the internal structure ; hut sections 

 made by the lapidary, under Dr. Brown's direction, only showed that 

 the general form and arrangement of the hundles of vascular tissue 

 preserved by mineralization, were more analogous to those which cha- 

 racterize the CycadeacecB than to any other existing plants. 



Five or six small cones, of the size of the juli of the larch, and 

 apparently referable to the same species of Abies or Pimis as those 

 found in the greensand of Kent*, have been obtained from the 

 Wealden sands and limestones that emerge on the sea-shore at 

 Hastings and St. Leonard's, and in Sandown Bay in the Isle of 

 Wight ; and in each of these localities these fossil fruits were collo- 

 cated with bones of the Iguanodon and other reptiles. 



But although the Wealden of England has proved so barren, that 

 of the North of Germany has yielded a rich harvest to the industry 

 and talents of my friend Dr. Wilhelm Dunker, of Hesse Cassel, who 

 has added to its flora upwards of sixty species of plants ; and he in- 

 forms me that he has discovered several new ones since the publica- 

 tion of his beautiful workf. Of these, thirty species, belonging to 

 seven genera, are Ferns, and twelve are referable to Cycadece or Za- 

 mice. The British Wealden plants, Endogenites erosa, Sphenopte7'is 

 ManteUi, Carpolithiis Mantelli, and some species of Thuytes or 

 Cupressites, apparently identical with those from Heathfield in 

 Sussex, occur in the same formation in Germany. 



The beautiful figures and accurate descriptions of all these plants 

 in Dr. Dunker' s work render it unnecessary to particularize them ; I 

 will only remark, that the extensive coal-field of Hanover, which was 

 long since identified with the Wealden by M. Roemer, and the 

 numerous plants discovered by Dr. Dunker, prove that the countries 

 of whose debris the Wealden deposits are composed, were clothed 

 with a luxuriant and varied flora, of which arborescent ferns, cycadese, 

 and coniferous trees, were the most characteristic and predominant 

 forms. 



Fauna of the Wealden. — Of the shells of mollusks, no new species 

 have I believe been detected in England ; but the Wealden of Ger- 

 many has proved as rich in fossils of this class as in vegetables. 



Dr. Dunker enumerates upwards of 100 species, comprising JJ?iioX, 

 5 species ; Cyrena, 37 species ; Cyclas, 4 species ; Corbula, 4 species ; 

 Melania, 9 species ; Paludina, 8 species ; Limncea and Planorbis, of 

 each 1 species ; and of Ostrea, Exogyra, Avicula, Modiola, Mytilus, 

 Turritella, and Neritina, of each 1 species §. 



Crustaceans. — These consist exclusively of the shields or cases 

 of Cyprides and Esthej^ia\\, of which four new species have been 



* Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. ii. p. 54. 



t Monographic der Norddeutschen Wealdenbildung, 1846. 



t It may be worthy of remark, that Mr. Barlow, C.E., has discovered specimens 

 of i'nio Valdensis (previously known only in the Isle of Wight), in the Wealden of 

 Sussex and Kent. 



§ See Dr. Bunker's Monographic der Norddeutschen Wealdenbildung. 



II Of Ruppell, ibid. pi. 13. fig. 33, p. 59. 



