504 FOSSIL FRUIT RELATED TO PANDANE^. 
the commencement of the great Oolitic series in 
the Secondary formations.^ 
In structure this fossil Fruit approaches nearer 
to Pandanus than to any other living plant, 
and viewing the peculiarities of the fruit of Pan- 
dane8e,t i^ connection with the office assigned 
* This fossil was found by the late Mr. Page, of Bishport 
near Bristol, in the lower region of the Inferior Oolite formation 
on the E. of Charmouth, Dorset, and is now in the Oxford 
Museum. The size of this fruit is that of a large orange, its surface 
is occupied by a stellated covering or Epicarpium, composed of 
hexagonal Tubercles, forming the summits of cells, which occupy 
the entire circumference of the fruit. (Figs. 2, a. 3, a. 4, a. 8, a.) 
Within each cell is contained a single seed, resembling a small 
grain of Rice more or less compressed, and usually hexagonal, 
Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 10. Where the Epicarpium is removed, the 
points of the seeds are seen, thickly studded over the surface of 
the fruit, (Fig. 2, 3, e.) The Bases of the cells (Fig. 3 and 10 c.) 
are separated from the receptacle, by a congeries of foot-stalks 
(d) formed of a dense mass of fibres, resembling the fibres beneath 
the base of the seeds of the modern Pandanus (Fig. 13, 14, 
15, d.) As this position of the seeds upon foot-stalks composed 
of long rigid fibres, at a distance from the receptacle, is a cha- 
racter that exists in no other family than the Pandanese, we are 
hereby enabled to connect our fossil fruit with this remarkable 
tribe of plants, as a new genus, Podocarya. I owe the sug- 
gestion of this name, and much of my information on this sub- 
ject, to the kindness of my friend, Mr. Robert Brown. 
f The large spherical fruit of Pandanus, hanging on its parent 
tree is represented at PI. 63, Fig. 1. Fig. 11 is the summit of 
one of the many Drupes into which this fruit is usually divided. 
Each cell when not barren contains a single oblong slender seed ; 
the cells in each drupe vary from two to fourteen in number, and 
jiiany of them are abortive, (Fig. 13.) The seeds within each 
