FLORA OF THE BAGSHOT FORMATION. 



17 



fruits occur there in very small basins ; to the number of these which have now been 

 explored, and to the fact that each basin contains a large proportion of plants peculiar to 

 itself, are due the extent and richness of the material at our disposal. The western 

 portion of the cliff-section presents us with the older beds, and these contain principally 

 leaves of dicotyledonous forest-trees ; the central area, adjoining Bournemouth Pier, 

 abounds in Palms, Ferns, &c. ; while to the east we see marsh- or swamp-vegetation, 

 and finally fruits, seeds, and branches, which have been floated out to sea. Commencing 

 from the west, we find, at less than half a mile from the rise of the cliffs, some small 

 patches of clay with a few leaves peculiar to them ; the first flora of importance, 

 however, is contained principally in two basins. The more westerly was the richer of 

 the two, but is now inaccessible, if not completely lost, from a heavy landslip. It was 

 characterised by the number of branches with leaves attached, that it contained. The 

 trees were mainly dicotyledonous, and, I believe, largely evergreen. Palms have not 

 been observed, but a climbing Lygodium is prevalent. A large pinnatifid leaf, re- 

 sembling Stenocarpus, is confined to this bed. The occurrence of leaves attached to 

 branches, of Insect remains, and of a feather, seems to indicate proximity to the shore. 

 The second basin contains scarcely anything but quantities of single and very perfect 

 leaves, resembling those of a large Hornbeam or Beech, which are spread in layers. 

 The next bed is a little to the east, and contains a great variety of small Willow-like 

 leaves, with entire and serrate margins. It is remarkable that, where any of the 

 species found in other beds are met with in this, they are seen to be stunted or dwarfed. 

 My interpretation of these facts is that the western beds present a comparatively upland 

 flora, the leaves found in the first basins having been shed from luxuriant forests, and 

 those in the latter from trees or bushes which grew in a more barren tract. 



The next beds are in the immediate neighbourhood of Bournemouth. Approaching 

 from the west, the first leaf-bed is a mass of compact dark clay. The uppermost layers 

 contain some indistinct leaf-impressions, then we meet with large pinnate leaves of 

 Palms, crossing each other in all du'ections ;i and under these a bed of leaves, the pre- 

 vailing form being a Myrica, not elsewhere met with at Bournemouth. TJie next bed 

 contains many especially characteristic plants ; among them being the Gleichenia, whose 

 fronds occupy a layer by themselves, large pinnate leaves of a Palm, wliich appear to me 

 to resemble Iriartea more than any other genus, and a Castanea-like leaf (Godoya ?), 

 the only one met with at Bournemouth. The succeeding beds under the Coastguard 

 Station consist of seven or eight layers, separated from each other by coarse quartz grit, 

 and each characterised by a group of leaves more or less peculiar to it. Several of the 

 rarer Ferns, both pinnate and palmate leaves of Palms, and some of the most important 

 dicotyledons, were obtained from them. One layer contains hardly anything but leaves of 

 a small Ficus. The uppermost bed, a dark-black clay, is full of the pinnae of Osmunda 



A portion of one extracted measured four feet in length by three feet in breadth. 



3 



