18 



BRITISH EOCENE FLORA. 



lignitmi^ Cactus spines, and branchlets of a Sequoia-like Conifer, and recalls most forcibly, 

 by its aspect, by the identity of its fossils, and by the manner of their occnrrence, some 

 of the beds at Bovey-Tracey. We seem to have in these central beds the remains of a 

 luxuriant and tropical valley vegetation. 



Beyond the Pier a bed contains Ferns, Aroids, Fan-palms, and a Eucalyptus, and 

 with these a Sequoia-Hke Conifer, which from the complete absence everywhere of cones, 

 the similarity of foliage, and the association of plants, may, perhaps, be referred to the 

 swamp-loving Podocarpus or Uacrydium. The last fresh-water beds met with contain 

 the remarkable forms referred to the Polypodiacea3. They are associated with other 

 Ferns, Rushes, and the Conifer already mentioned, and indicate a swamp-vegetation. 

 Thus, by the plants may be traced the change from hill to valley and from valley to 

 marsh. 



In the Marine Beds are found numerous fruits, seeds, fragments of Conifers, Cactus, 

 &c. The fruits and seeds, although comparatively few in number, are a valuable 

 discovery, being from a higher horizon than the leaf-patches. They appear, like those 

 from Bracklesham, to be related to the fruits from Sheppey, which are found in the 

 London Clay, and therefore below the leaves. About sixteen kinds have been collected, 

 including, it is supposed, Nipadites, Hightea, Cucumites, and Petrophiloides, sufficient 

 to establish that no great break took place in the flora as a whole. The assistance of the 

 Sheppey fruits may thus be important in determining the genera of the Bagshot leaves 

 and flowers ; for, even with a slight connection established, we should, in cases where 

 leaves might be referred to different genera, get data for selecting a particular genus 

 from the Sheppey fruits. These determinations may thus have a value which botanists 

 refuse to theni when based on leaves alone. 



The Flora of Bovey-Tracey. — It may appear strange to find the flora of Bovey-Tracey, 

 thought to be typically Miocene, included in that of the Middle Bagshot. It is, however, 

 perfectly clear to me that the Bovey-Tracey beds are on the same horizon as those at 

 Bournemouth, from which they are some eighty miles distant. Even in this first section 

 upon Ferns it will be seen that there are elements common to both, for two of the three 

 are common to Bournemouth ; and, while one is equally rare at both places, another is 

 equally abundant at both, and found under precisely similar conditions. The detached 

 pinnae of Osmunda lignitum are found in blackish shaly clay, spread in layers mingled with 

 Cactus spines and Sequoia, exactly as they are at Bournemouth ; and so identical are 

 they in appearance that, were the specimens mixed, it would be impossible to tell 

 which belonged to either locality. The third Fern found at Bovey is a common Eocene 

 form. Of other plants, the Cactus {Palmacites Diemonorops, ITeer) is found abundantly 

 in certain beds at Bournemouth and Bovey, and scarcely anywhere else. The fruits are 

 so similar that handfuls of Anona, for instance, from each place, if once mixed, could 

 not again be separated. The Cinnamons of Bovey, thought to be so characteristic of 

 the Miocene, are most abundant everywhere at Bournemouth. The Oaks, the Laurels, 



