MANTELL ON FRUITS FROM THE CRETACEOUS ROCKS. 53 



to the extent of six or seven inches, while the remainder is a friable 

 carbonate of lime : the general aspect of tliis specimen, and the in- 

 dications of eight irregular branches, prove at once its exogenous 

 character. Transverse sections of the silicilied part exhibit a small 

 central pith, faint concentric circles, medullary rays, and a reticu- 

 lated surface of very fine, unequal, elongated cellules, resembling the 

 wood figured by Mr. Witham, fig. 3. pi. 5. (Foss. Vegetables, Edin- 

 burgh, 1831). Longitudinal slices viewed with a high power dis- 

 play on the walls of the tubes single rows of very minute discs or 

 areolae: the coniferous nature of the specimens is thus placed 

 beyond all doubt. The cone found associated with this wood is in 

 every respect such a fruit as a tree with the structure above de- 

 scribed might be expected to produce. It bears a close resemblance 

 to a fossil from the greensand of Dorsetshire discovered by Dr. 

 Buckland, and figured in the ' Fossil Flora of Great Britain ' under the 

 name of Abies oblonga (Fossil Flora, p. 137). In its general form, 

 and in the shape of the scales and seeds, the Maidstone specimen is 

 decidedly distinct. 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, and as 

 Abies is distinguished from Pinus by the thinness of the ends of the 

 scales, the affinity of the fossil is clearly pointed out. There is an 

 opening at the base of the cone occasioned by the removal of the 

 stalk (see PL II. fig. 2.), and an accidental oblique fracture ex- 

 hibits the internal structure. In the longitudinal section thus ex- 

 posed (fig. 2. a) the scales are seen to be rounded and broad at 

 their base, and to rise gradually and become thin at their outer termi- 

 nations. The seeds are oblong, and one seed is imbedded within the 

 base of each scale ; in some instances there appear to be the remains 

 of the embryo (PI. II. fig. 2. Z»). Mr. Morris, upon inspecting this 

 specimen, remarked, " that it has a great affinity to Abies oblonga. of 

 Lindley and Hutton, but is more spherical, and the scales are 

 smaller, mdre regular and numerous." As the fracture is oblique 

 the central axis is not displayed, but it appears to have been thicker 

 than in A, oblonga (see fig. 2. (T). There are about twenty-three 

 seeds observable in the sections. 



The cones above-described are entirely different from those 

 figured by Dr. Fitton in his memoir on the strata below the chalk 

 (Geological Transactions, 2nd Series, vol. iv. pi. 22). 



3. Carpolithes Smithije*, Mantell. Plate II. fig. 3. a, b, c, d. 



From the white chalk of Kent. 



Among the fossils discovered in the Sussex chalk before the pub- 

 lication of my ' Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex,' Avas a spe- 

 cimen of so equivocal a nature as to render it doubtful whether it 

 belonged to the animal or vegetable kingdom. The late Mr. Par- 

 kinson, to whom I showed this fossil, after much hesitation pro- 



* The specific name is in honour of Mrs. Smith of Tunbridgc Wells, whose 

 choice collection of chalk fossils is well known. 



