and Fossil Ranatns near London, 339; 



formation. It includes none of the remains of any of the lost 

 fossils, such as the Cornu ammonis^ Encr'inites^ &c. Mr. Jacobs in- 

 deed speaks of one imperfect specimen of Belem?iites and oi Astro'itce 

 having been found, but at the same time as being very uncommon; 

 Mr. Brander however does not appear to have met with any of these 

 older fossils ; nor have any of them been discovered either at Kew or 

 at Highgate. Hence it seems reasonable to conclude, that the single 

 imperfect belemnite and the few astroitas were not inhabitants of the 

 8ea at the period when this stratum was deposited, but were washed 

 out of some of the more ancient strata, and lodged by accident in the 

 bed where they were found.* 



The quantity of fruit or ligneous seed vessels and berries, which 

 has been found in this stratum at Shepey, is prodigious. Mr. 

 Francis Crow, of Feversham, has procured from this fertile spot a 

 V'ery large collection, and by carefully comparing each individual 

 specimen by their internal as well as their external appearance, he has 

 been enabled to select seven hundred specimens, none of which are 

 duplicates, and very few agree with any known seed vessels. These 

 vegetable remains have also been found on the opposite Essex shore, 

 but in very small numbei-s. They have also been met with in that 

 part of the stratum which has been examined at Kew. At High- 

 gate and at Shepey a resinous matter, highly inflammable, of a 

 darkish brown colour, and yielding, on friction, a peculiar odour, has 

 also been found. This substance has been conjectured to exist in an 



* It appears to be necessaiy to guard against two sources of error whilst appropriating 

 fossils to their respective strata: one is the circumstance here alluded io^ where the 

 fossils of a preexistent stratum have been washed out by the waters while depositing a 

 more recent stratum : the other is where, at the line of junction of two strata, the 

 animals of the one are found, within the borders of the other stratum j a circumstance 

 by no mcaijs difl^cult to be. conceived or explained. 



2 u 2 



