FLORA OF THE BAGSIIOT FORMATION. 



13 



Rev. W. B. Clarke/ in 1839, when he described a lignitic bed as composed of " relics 

 of aquatic plants and the bark and seed-vessels of Pine." The Rev. P. 13. Brodie first 

 announced that fossil leaves in clay were to be found to the east of Bournemouth.^ 

 These he supposed to belong to Lauracese and Amentaceae, to Characese and other 

 Cryptogams. In 1844 Mantell'^ noticed them, and adopts Brodie's views; again in 

 1847/ he mentioned the occurrence at Bournemouth "of the same species of plants as 

 those found in Alum Bay." In 1849 Prestwich '' fixed the relative position of the 

 Bournemouth and Alum Bay leaf-beds, and recorded the finding of leaves, although 

 of few species, west of Bournemouth. In 1850 Dixon's ' Geology of Sussex' appeared, 

 in which a few plant-remains were figured from Bracklesham. Two were identified as 

 Li/copodites squamatus and Cticumiies variabilis, and the third was called Pitiitcs Blxoni. 

 There were also figured some very beautiful sections of palm-stems picked up on the 

 beach near Worthing and Shoreham.^ 



In 1851 Mantell,'^ who was evidently himself acquainted with the Bournemouth 

 leaf-beds, introduced some notes on the " Foliage of Dicotyledonous Trees," from " thin 

 layers of sandy clay in the cliffs west of Bournemouth." All the leaves were dicotyle- 

 donous, and appeared to him to have been shed. Many he still considered referable to 

 Lauracese and Amentacese, and some he referred more specially to species of Willow, 

 Poplar, and Laburnum. In another of his works^ we find a foot-note stating that, while 

 the vegetable remains from the Isle of Sheppey are tropical in character, those from 

 Bournemouth, Alum Bay, and Newhaven, are of a temperate climate, e.g., Neriura 

 and Platanus, whence Edward Forbes inferred that in the former case they were 

 transported from distant lands by currents, and the latter were the true flora of the 

 country. 



In 1853 the Rev. P. B. Brodie noticed the occurrence, at Corfe, of elytra of 

 Coleopterous Insects belonging to the families Curculionida3 and Buprestidse. A 

 Date-palm and a species of Willow are also mentioned by him as having been obtained 

 from the neighbourhood of Corfe ; and he further states that a larger number of plants 

 had been procured in different parts of the series, appearing to belong to distinct natural 

 orders. In 1854, according to Prestwich,^" there were only three species of plants 



1 ' Mag. Nat. Hist.,' ser. ii, vol. iii, p. 438. 



2 ' Proc. Geol. Soc.,' vol. iii, p. 592. 



^ ' Medals of Creation,' vol. i, p. 193. 



* 'Geol. Isle of Wight,' p. 169. 



^ ' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,' vol. v, p. 43. 



'5 The exact age of the rolled palm-wood is unknown, but it may be derived from Eocene below the 

 London Clay. 



7 ' Geological Excursion round the Isle of Wight,' 2nd edition, Supplement. 



8 ' Fossils of the British Museum,' 18,51, p. 51. 

 ^ ' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,' vol. ix, p. 53. 



' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,' vol. x, p. 75. 



