1880.] 



On the Fossil Flora of Alum Bay. 



229 



the Cupanias from Alum Bay approach nearly to those of the existing 

 Cupania glabra, and I should prefer to unite with these Alum 

 Bay leaves the form of Cupania fruit from Sheppey, which most 

 nearly agrees with the same living species, namely, C. glabra, &c. 



Liquidambar* and Metrosideros, which are common to Sheppey and 

 Bournemouth, are as yet absent at Alum Bay ; on the other hand, we 

 have in Alum Bay the genera Symplocos, Nelumbium, and Hightea, 

 which are common to this locality and Sheppey, but not yet found at 

 Bournemouth. 



The small number of ferns and palms, in comparison with the much 

 greater number at Bournemouth and of the latter at Sheppey, is re- 

 markable. This is attributable, I think, only to local physical con- 

 ditions, and perhaps the same conditions may have led to the much 

 greater prevalence of Dicotyledons in Alum Bay. In the beds of 

 Studland, which are on the same horizon as Alum Bay, remains of 

 palms and ferns abound, though belonging to few species. 



Many of the Dicotyledons correspond with Miocene species, and I 

 do not doubt that there is a genetic connexion between them. We 

 have in Alum Bay the precursors of Quercus Lonchitis, Q. mediter- 

 ranea, Ulmus longifolia, Celtis Japeti, Ficus lanceolata, F. sagoriana, 

 F. arcinervis, F. Riiminiana, Juglans parschlugiana, Salix integra, 

 Nyssa striolata, Grevillea Haeringiana, Persoonia laurina, Olea car- 

 neolica, Fraxinus primigenia, F. savinensis, Cinchonidium bilinicum, 

 C. latifolium, Apocynophyllum Amsonia, Symplocos parschlugiana, 

 Ceratopetalum bilinicum, C. radobojanum, Bombax chorisiaefolium, 



B. salmalisefolium, Ternstroemia radobojana, Acer decipiens, Dodonasa 

 Salicites, D. Apocynophyllum, Celastrus Europasus, Ilex stenophylla, 

 Vitis teutonica, Rhus stygia, Amygdalus ceningensis, Paleeolobium 

 radobojense, Cassia Phaseolites, C. sagoriana, C. Memnonia, C. lignitum, 



C. stenophylla, Mimosites cassiaeformis. 



There are also what appear to be certain ancestral species, if I may 

 use the expression, nearly allied to several miocene species, whose 

 characters they unite; for instance, Hiraea intermedia connects H. 

 borealis of the Fossil Flora of Haering and H. Ungeri of the Fossil 

 Flora of Sotzka ; Celastrus Tafhis connects C. ^Eoli and C. Murchisoni; 

 Celastrus Fenjas connects C. cassinefolius and C. Bruckmanni; Celas- 

 trus Salidae connects C. protogaeus, C. Acherontis, C. deperditus from 

 Hasring, C. Hippolyti from Kutschlin, C. oreophilus from Sotzka and 

 C. stygius from Switzerland; Rhamnus acutangula connects R. 

 paucinervis, R. colubrinoides, R. orbifera, R. ceningensis, R. Graefii 

 and R. Decheni ; Cissus celastrifolia connects C. rhamnoides and C. 

 celtidif olia ; Rhus cyclophylla connects R. Pyrrhas, R. Brunneri and 

 R. Meriani. 



* The Alum Bay specimen called Liquidambar is only a less palmitid form of 

 Aralia primigenia. 



VOL. XXX. . R 



