1862.] HEER — HEMPSTEAD PLANTS. 371 



US important conclusions about the relation of the Miocene to the 

 Eocene flora, and clearly show us the changes which have taken 

 place in this land ; for the forests particularly give the physiognomy 

 of the country."— AY. P. 



EossiL Plants peom Hempstead, Isle of Wight. 



The plants sent to me by Mr. Pengelly, from the Hempstead Series 

 of the Isle of Wight, are of great interest, because the geological 

 position of the deposit was exactly determined by the late Prof. 

 E. Forbes, and it is very important to know in what degree the flora 

 of this division of the Tertiary formation is referable to that of the 

 pipe -clay of Alum Bay and that of the lignite of Bovey Tracey. 



The number of species is indeed very small, undoubtedly too small 

 for an exact.settlement of this question. However, they give us some 

 important points of comparison. The plants sent to me belong to 

 ten species. Pour of these (Sequoia Gouttsice, Andromeda reticidata, 

 Nym^licea Doris, and Carpolithes Websteri) have also been found at 

 Bovey Tracey ; all these, except the Nymphcea, are species which 

 appear also in the Lower Miocene of the Continent. Nelumhium 

 Buchii is known from Mount Promina, from the Paudeze, and Gunz- 

 burg, localities belonging to the Lower Miocene, and is also acco%- 

 panied by Chara Escheri, We know, therefore, six species of the 

 Lower Miocene (Tongrian and Aquitanian). 



Prof. E. Porbes says (in his * Tertiary Pluvio -marine Pormation 

 of the Isle of Wight,' p. 47), when speaking oi Folliculites thalictroides 

 Br., var., " This form appears to be the same as that found in the Bem- 

 bridge and Headon series :" he certainly means the F. thalictroides , 

 var. Wehsteri, Br. ; but this, on account of its obtusely rounded end, 

 must be separated as a species from F. thalictroides, and is identical 

 with the Folliculites Kaltennordheimensis. If this species, indeed, 

 appeared in the Bembridge beds, and not the F. thalictroides, Br., 

 Hempstead would have one species in common with the Bembridge 

 series. Prof. Porbes mentions, besides, three species of Chara ; but 

 at present we cannot lay much stress upon these, as I shall show in 

 my notice of Chara, because we must submit them to a new and 

 careful examination. 



Hempstead has no species in common with the pipe-clay of Alum 

 Bay. As far as the deficient materials enable us to judge, the fossil 

 flora of Hempstead has more reference to that of Bovey Tracey, and 

 thereby to the Lower Miocene flora, than to the Eocene flora of the 

 Bembridge series and Alum Bay. 



A further observation which these plants suggest concerns the 

 local conditions which they announce. We perceive amongst them 

 a Nelumhium and a Water-lily (Nymj^hcea) ; also two species of Chara, 

 which likewise lived in the water; and a plant nearly related to 

 Cyperus, which undoubtedly grew on the bank, where an Andromeda 

 had its place too. The sSeds of Nymphcea Doris are very numerous; 

 and from the Nelumhium Buchii we have not only portions of leaves, 

 but also numerous rhizomes with the fibres; we may therefore 

 almost with certainty affirm that this plant really lived there. 



VOL. XVIII. — part I. 2 G 



