174 Dr. FiTTON on the Strata below the Chalk. 



retains the greater part of its covering of coal, which has a smooth outer surface, of a hght 

 brown or drab colour : and at the lower part, a portion of the coal has been drawn away from 

 the nucleus, apparently by the contraction of the investing matter to which it strongly ad- 

 heres. One end of the specimen, where a portion has been accidentally broken off at h, shows 

 the proportionate thickness of the coating to the nucleus within. Fig. 5 is a smaller nucleus, 

 nearly complete, very short in proportion to its width. Figs. 6 and 7 are sections of speci- 

 mens broken across, and exhibiting the flat surface of the fracture in the nucleus, with the 

 proportion of the coaly covering, and the porous structure of the nucleus. Fig. 8 is the nucleus 

 of a large specimen found by Mr. Woodbine Parish, in the strata near St. Leonard's Church. 

 It is remarkable for the compressed appearance of one extremity, and seems to have been 

 originally longer in that direction. It still retains a portion of the investing coal, and of the 

 smooth outer surface of that coating, but the greater part has been removed or disturbed. 

 Fig. 9 is taken from a specimen from Tilgate Forest, presented to the British Museum by Mi. 

 Mantell, which is remarkable for its length, its nearly cylindrical figure, and the acute tapering 

 of the extremity. The superficial furrows also, in this specimen, are deeper and much larger 

 than in the greater number of the nuclei found near Hastings*; but in this respect it is approached 

 by Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 10 represents rather more than one half of a complete nucleus, of the 

 natural size : the upper surface of a, of which fig. 6 is a separate representation, showing the 

 appearance of a fracture on the line of the longer axis. 



(86.) The size of the different specimens varies considerably. The largest 

 that I saw in its place^ and from which the foregoing wood-cut was taken, must 

 have been in the whole full nine feet long ; but there were portions of other 

 nuclei of greater size, among the fallen specimens previously dug out. The 

 lignite at one extremity was three feet in length; the nucleus 44 feet; and the 

 workmen assured me that the coal at the other end extended to about 18 

 inches. The width in the middle was 12 inches, and the greatest thickness 

 4 inches. Another specimen, which had been for some time exposed to de- 

 composition, was about 7| feet long ; the nucleus about 5| feet, with about 

 12 inches of lignite remaining at each extremity ; and from these dimensions 

 there seem to have been gradations down to a few inches in length. The 

 nucleus of the smallest specimen that I obtained, which is represented, of its 

 natural size, in Plate XIX., fig. 10, is not more than 3 inches long, and about 

 2 inches wide; yet the external figure is complete, and the internal tubes are 

 not smaller than most of those in the largest masses. 



(87.) The original form of this vegetable was probably cylindrical; and 

 that shape is still retained in a large specimen of a nucleus from Tilgate 

 Forest, now in the British Museum ; Plate XIX., fig. 9 : but in the majority 

 of the specimens the figure has evidently been compressed, and the section 

 is now an oval variously modified; figs. 6, 7, 10. In those represented in 



* Since this sheet has been at the press, I find, on examining several other specimens in 

 Mr. Mantell's museum, that the uncompressed figure and greater size of the external tube-like 

 furrows, are general characters of this fossil at Tilgate Forest. 



