318 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. IV 



fir-cones (Abies Benstedi), coniferous wood, petioles of 

 the Clathraria, and the stem of a plant allied to Dracaena. 

 The Conifera (cone-bearing, as the Larch) appear to have- 

 constituted the principal feature in the flora of the country, 



Lign. 57. — Fucus in malm-rock; from Bignor Park, Sussex. 

 (Fucoides Targionii.) 



whose rivers and streams flowed into that part of the chalk 

 ocean that is accessible to observation in England. All the 

 wood I have met with, whether in the white chalk, fire- 

 stone, gait, or greensand, is coniferous ; and most of it 

 possesses the structure of the Araucaria, or Norfolk Island 

 pine. Several pine or fir cones have been found, but all of 

 small size. 



Of those peculiar coniferous plants, the Zamia and Cycas, 

 many remains have been collected. A beautiful elongated 

 cone of a Zamia was obtained some years since, near 

 Willingdon, in Sussex, from a bed of greensand, which 

 abounds in coniferous wood.* 



In the chalk marl at Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, 

 a remarkable specimen of the summit of a stem of the 



* It is figured in Geol. Proc. 1 843, as Zamites Sussexiensis. See 

 Medals of Creation, Fossil Conifera, vol. i. p. 165. 



