LONDON-CLAY FLORA. 



11 



contain two well-marked types, which have been almost invariably recognised as 

 belonging to Ficus and Cinnamomiim. The carbonised wood is coniferous.'^ 



This flora differs materially from that of Alum Bay, and from that of Newhaven, and 

 perhaps more nearly resembles the Bournemouth flora than either of them. It is 

 remarkable that the leaves are usually found adhering to a stem, instead of being 

 detached, as is generally the case elsewhere. 



IV. Flora ob^ the London Clay. 



The Fossil Fniiis of Sheppey have been known for two centuries at least. They 

 occur in abundance in the beds between Sheerness and Warden Point, and are washed 

 out with other organic fragments and cement-stones, and gathered on the beach as 

 copperas. The people engaged in collecting the co})peras and cement-stones have for 

 years been accustomed to set aside the more defined specimens ; but, unfortunately, the 

 fruits were perishable, and, with few exceptions, have disintegrated in a very short time. 



The earliest notice of them, according to Whitaker's list of works on the London 

 Basin,^ is an anonymous 'Fossilise Sheppeianae Catalogus of 1709. The next, 1757, 

 is a paper by Dr. J. Parsons/ in which forty-four varieties of fruits are figured. 

 They were thought to be Figs, Myrobalan, Phaseolus, seeds of an American Gourd, 

 Coffee-berries, Pods of the Underground Pea, small Melon, Acorn, Plum-stone, Cherry- 

 stone, berry of Sapindus, fruit of Hura, Mango, Horse-chestnut, Cocoa-nut, &c. 



The author thought that if they were antediluvian they would, in some measure, 

 point out the time of year in which the deluge began, which could not have been in 

 May, as sup])osed by Dr. Woodward, but, from the ripeness of the fruits, in autumn. 



In 1777 E. Jacob, in an Appendix to the ' Plantas Favershamienses,' gives a list of 

 fossil plants from Sheppey, under the heads of Lignum fossile, Equisetum, Fructus varii 

 Aristae, and Mycetida;. 



In 1811 Parkinson^ figured several fruits from Sheppey, but added nothing to 

 Parson's list, except the suggestion that Nipadites was probably the fruit of the genus 

 Cocos. 



In 1814 Webster^ wrote that the cliffs of Sheppey had long been celebrated, and 

 that from them, with the beds at Faversham and Emsworth, 700 different species of 

 fossil fruits were known. In 1828 Brongniart, in his 'Prodrome des Vcgetaux Fossiles,' 

 describes three fruits from Sheppey, to which he gives the names of Cocos Farkinsonii, 



^ 'Mem, Geol. Surv.,' vol. iv. " ' Monthly Miscellany,' vol. lii, p. 103. 



^ ' Phil. Trans.,' vol. 1, p. 39G, pi. vi. * ' Organic Remains, &c.,' vol. i, pis. vi and vii. 



^ 'Trans. Geol. Soc.,' ser. I, vol. ii, p. 2. The information appears to have been derived from a 

 MS. Catalogue (nov? in the British Museum), by Francis Crow, of Faversham, dated 1810, illustrated 

 with 831 drawings, supposed by the author to represent about 7U0 varieties. 



