1852.] LYELL BELGIAN TERTIARY FORMATIONS. 345 



1. Nipadites turgidus, Bowerbank, ' FossiP\ 



Fruits; pi. 5. [PI. XIX. fig. 1, & PL XX. Nipadites Burtini, 

 figs. 7, 8.] )> (according to Dr. 



2. N. giganteus, Bowerbank, pi. 6. fig. 1. Hooker). 

 [PL XIX. fig. 2.] J 



3. N. lanceolatus, Bowerbank, pi. 3. fig. 7 & 8. [PL XIX. fig. 3, 4.] 



4. N. Parkinsonis, Bowerbank, pi. 4. [PL XIX. figs. 5, 6.] 



The first two of these are considered by Dr. Hooker as probably- 

 belonging to the same species, which should be called Nipadites 

 Bur tint, Brongn. sp. Many of Mr. Bowerbank' s species, as he is 

 now aware, may be founded on differences which appertain to indi- 

 vidual varieties, or are still more frequently the result of different 

 stages of growth, and of pressure in fruits aggregated into bunches. 

 They were selected by him as the most striking and constant forms 

 out of many hundreds of individuals from Sheppey. 



Nipadites Burtini, Brongniart, sp. 

 [PL XIX. figs. 1, 2, & PL XX. figs. 7, 8.] 



Length of the largest Schaerbeek specimen, 7 inches y^ths ; 

 breadth 4 inches. 



Fig. 1 represents a ripe specimen called N. turgidus by Mr. Bower- 

 bank. Burtin's figure, pi. 30. fig. A, is good, but Capt. Le Hon's 

 specimen (here figured) displays more fully the texture and form both 

 of the pericarp and its contained seed. 



PL XX. fig. 7. Side view of another specimen, showing the marks 

 of boring Molluscs, probably Teredince. 



PL XX. fig. 8. Base of the same specimen, broken off at a, fig. 7, 

 showing hollows made by Teredince and filled by sandstone, the 

 cavity of the pericarp being similarly filled {a, b) . 



PL XIX. fig. 2. N. giganteus, Bow., is according to Dr. Hooker 

 an immature or abortive fruit of the same species, showing the angu- 

 larity of the pericarp, equally characteristic of this and of the ripe 

 specimen. From the sharpness of the prominent ridge and the gibbo- 

 sity of its general shape, the fossil singularly resembles the living 

 Nipafruticans, with which it also agrees in the coarsely fibrous texture 

 of the pericarp. 



Dr. Hooker has shown me seeds taken from the same head of Nipa 

 fruticans, from the Sunderbunds of the Ganges, differing much more 

 widely from one another in form and outline than N. turgidus and 

 N. giganteus. One of the recent specimens is not so much as one- 

 fifth the size of another in the same bunch. 



Some of Mr. Bowerbank's specimens from Sheppey are not inferior 

 in size to those of Brussels. If the nuts were equally numerous in 

 the same head, a cluster of them must have very far exceeded in 

 magnitude the head of the living Nipa. The absence of nuts in many 

 of the full-grown pericarps at Schaerbeek is quite natural, as I learn 

 from Dr. Hooker that the top seed-vessels are most commonly abor- 

 tive in the living Nipa, as are frequently some of those in the rest 

 of the bunch. 



