170 THE STORY OF THE EARTH. 



mimosas are common to both deposits. Besides 

 these, the Alum Bay beds make known many new 

 types, of which the London clay gives no evi- 

 dence. Among them are the beech, elm, fig, bread 

 fruit, willow, poplar, sandalwood, the Mezereon, 

 Aristolochia, olive, ash, convolvulus, verbena, bil- 

 berry, some heaths, the aralia, dogwood, white 

 water-lily, custard apple, holly, buckthorn, vine, 

 sumach and pistachio. These are among the more 

 important new plants introduced in the Bagshot 

 Sands ; and with them are a number of Protean 

 referred to genera now living in Australia, as well 

 as a representative of the type genus Protcoides, 

 the sugar bush of South Africa. One of the most 

 Striking features in the flora is the small number 

 of palms, and the absence of the Xipa, which in 

 Sheppey is the predominant fruit and is present 

 in the newer beds at Bournemouth. The fruits 

 and [eaves, like the shells in the associated strata, 

 indicate affinities with the life of far-off regions oi 

 the earth. It is a generation since Unger, a Vien- 

 nese -indent of the fossil plant-life of the lower 



tertiaries, impressed with the occurrence of nu- 

 merous genera in Austria, which live at the pres- 

 ent day in Australia, regarded the eocene flora 

 indicating a migratory passage of the ancient 

 plants from Europe into the Australian region. 

 The plane of junction where the Bagshot Sands 

 Come to an end, and the succeeding marine 



Bracklesham beds begin is not easy to draw ; be- 

 cause the Bracklesham beds contain locally thick 



layers of lignite, which have the aspect ni a coal 

 ii, and indicate the persistence of terrestrial 

 < onditK llations of that tec 



. el. 



Low down in these beds is found the la 



