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Nipadites in Eocene Beds at Bournemouth. 



By Sir Daniel Morris, k.c.m.g., d.sc, d.c.l., f.l.s. 



Among the fossil remains of plants found in the Eocene deposits 

 in the neighbourhood of Bournemouth probably the most 

 interesting are the leaves and fruits of palms which indicate 

 in the early part of the Tertiary period the existence of a flora of a 

 more or less tropical character. 



In a ' Monograph of the British Eocene Flora, 7 by J. Starkie 

 Gardner, f.g.s., and Baron Ettingshausen (vol. i, pp. 16-18), 

 1879-1882, frequent mention is made of the occurrence of the 

 leaves and seeds of palms in the Bournemouth cliffs. The sections 

 in the western portions of the cliffs contained the older beds with 

 leaves of dicotyledonous forest trees. In the central cliffs near the 

 pier were found leaves of palms and ferns, while to the east at 

 Boscombe and beyond were found remains of a marsh or swamp 

 vegetation, and finally fruits, seeds and branches which had been 

 floated out to sea. 



In the fresh water beds in the central series " large pinnate 

 leaves of palms crossing each other in all directions" were 

 observed. A portion of one of these palm leaves measured " four 

 feet in length by three feet in breadth." A neighbouring bed con- 

 tained " large pinnate leaves of a palm resembling an Iriartea, 

 which now flourishes in the forests of Peru and on the banks of the 

 Amazon. In succeeding beds under the Coastguard Station seven 

 or eight layers of deposits, separated from each other by coarse 

 quartz grit, contained " pinnate and palmate leaves of palms." In 

 the marine beds to the east forming a higher horizon than the leaf 

 patches above referred to, fruits and seeds of sixteen different kinds 

 were found closely related to the fruits found in the London clay at 

 Sheppey. Among them Mr. Starkie Gardner discovered those of 

 Nipadites, a genus founded by Bowerbank in 1840 in his 'History of 

 the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the London Clay.' Similar fossil remains 

 had been found both in this country and on the Continent during 

 the last two hundred years, and various conjectures had been 

 hazarded as to their true nature. Parson in 1757 compared them 

 with " figs petrified in a green state." Burtin suggested that the 

 larger Belgian fruits might be fossil cocoa-nuts. Parkinson in 1804 

 also referred them to Cocos. Bronn in 1837 substituted Cocites for 

 Cocos and placed them among the Pandanece or Screw Pines. 

 Bowerbank's name, Nipadites, as mentioned by Rendle, emphasized 

 the relation of the fossils to the recent genus Nipa and " so near in 

 fact is this relation that one is tempted to follow Ettingshausen, 

 who in a list in the ' Proceedings of the Royal Society,' xxiv, 

 p. 393, reduces all the species to Nipa" 



On the principle of leading from the known to the unknown, it 

 would be convenient to give a brief description of the Nipa palm in 

 order to obtain a fuller grasp ot the characters of its fossil ally — 

 Nipadites. 



