GYMNOSPERMiE. ' 91 



indication of the position of the scales on the axis, and their formation seems somewhat 

 different. I do not therefore at present feel that the material would justify the transfer 

 of the Bovey specimens to another genus, especially as their reference to Sequoia has 

 been very widely accepted in text-books, and the supposed presence of a representative 

 of the giant trees of California made the basis of much speculation and inference. I 

 think it almost certain, however, that the species may be found not to be a true Sequoia ; 

 and the danger is very apparent of giving the reins to the imagination and picturing 

 the slopes round the ancient Bovey water as clothed with woods composed " mainly of 

 a huge coniferous tree {Sequoia Coutfsia), whose figure resembled in all probability its 

 highly admired cousin, the Sequoia [Wellin^tonia) (jigantea, Lindl., of California.'-'^ If 

 the supposed Wellingtonia should prove to be but a marsh-loving plant, as the supposed 

 tree-ferns of " imposing grandeur " have proved to be but humble Osmundas, how 

 completely at variance must the actual appearance of the vegetation have been to that so 

 graphically described in Heer and Pengelly's work. 



The Hordvvell specimens are indistinguishable from Athrotaxis cupressoides of 

 Tasmania, " a small erect tree, from twenty to thirty feet high, much branched, and with 

 numerous branchlets, which are slender, spreading or pendulous, and cylindrical." " " It 

 is found at Lake St. -Claire and along Pine River, in Tasmania, and is tolerably hardy." 

 The Athrotaxides form a small genus, allied to Sequoia, now entirely confined to Tasmania. 

 The fact that the species are little known and are still rare in herbaria has no doubt 

 prevented hitherto the reference of any fossils to the genus. The occurrence of two 

 undoubted and almost unaltered species in our Eocene is not a little singular, and of 

 great significance. 



The specimens obtained from the Bembridge Marls, Gurnet Bay, occur above the 

 " Insect Bed," and unlike those previously described are in intaglio. They prove, 

 though relatively rare, that the species maintained its ground between the Hordwell and 

 Hempstead horizons ; from both of these it had previously been obtained. They are 

 figured Plate XXII, fig. 10; Plate XXVII, figs. 4, 4,«. 



Sequoia Shrubsolei, sp. nov. 

 London Clay; Sheppey. 



The cone is ovate, 37 millimetres in length; 20 millimetres in its widest 

 diameter, and about one third less when measured from back to front or at right angles 

 to the plane shown in the figure. Before compression, therefore, it must have been of a 

 cylindrical form, shaped like a cocoon, and about twice as wide as high, and rather 

 obtuse at both ends. It is composed of about 40 scales, lozenge-shaped, or imperfectly 

 hexagonal, measuring 10 miUimetres across and 8 in height, becoming smaller towards 

 ' " Flora of Bovey," ' Phil. Trans.,' 1862. 2 Gordon's ' Pinetum,' p. 47, 1880. 



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