144 



History of the Sarsens. 



central vascular bundle, surrounded by a considerable thickness of 

 soft parenchyma, consisting of uniform cells of short rectangular 

 shape. The cells have not been distorted Ly pressure, hut retain 

 the size and form of the original tissue — which is a further evidence 

 of the roots being preserved in the position in which they grew. 

 There are not sufficient data in the specimens to enable one to de- 

 termine with certainty what was the nature of the plants to which 

 the roots belong; but it appears to me probable that they were 

 monocotyledonous plants ; and they may have been Palms, a group 

 represented in the Eocene Flora of England/'' The fossil remains 

 of palms from the Bracklesham Beds, the southern equivalents of the 

 Bagshot Beds, are figured and described in Dixon's " Geology of 

 Sussex/' 2nd Edition, 1878, p. 166, pi. 17. 



Pig. 2. Impressions of the Root of a Palm (?) in a weathered Sarsen in a wall 

 at Abnry. Sketched by Col. C. C. King, F.G.S., in 1885. 



[This woodcut has been courteously lent by Dr. H. Woodward, 

 E.R.S., Editor of the Geological Magazine.] 



