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A MONOGRAPH

OF THE

BRITISH

EOCENE FLORA.

BY

JOHN STARKIE GARDNER, F.G.S., M.G.S. FRANCE, &c.,

AND

CONSTANTIN BARON ETTINGSHAUSEN, PH.D.,

PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GRATZ, ETC. ETC.

VOL.I

FILICES.

       
   

UNIVERSITY ‘
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE PALZEONTOGRAPHIOAL SOCIETY.

1879—1882.

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CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

INTRODUCTION, BY J. S. GARDNER
BIBLIOGRAPHY ,,

CLASSIFICATION ,,

,, BY BARON ETTINGSHAUSEN (FIGS. 1—10)

DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIES, BY BARON ETTINGSHAUSEN AND J. S. GARDNER
REVISION 0F SPECIES, BY J. S. GARDNER

-_ CONCLUDING REMARKS ,,

INDEX OF FOSSIL SPECIES

INDEX OF LIVING FERNS

GENERAL INDEX

PAGE
1—8
9—20
20—22
22—25
26—57
57—70
70—79
81—83
84
85—86

 

   

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" UNIVERSITY
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A MONOGRAPH

ON THE

BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

 

INTRODUCTION.

ALTHOUGH for many years no additions have been made to our knowledge of the
British Eocenefloras, in published works, yet during that period material has been
rapidly and steadily accumulating. When, ten years since, my attention was first
directed to the fossil leaves which were then found abundantly at Bournemouth, the
extent of the Eocene flora hidden there was not even surmised. It had been stated, in
fact, to contain but few types. The fossil leaves of Alum Bay, however, were well known,
especially to Mr. Keeping, who had fully ascertained that no very great variety of forms
were to be found there. In addition to these, fossil floras were also referred to as
having been collected from Studland and the neighbourhood of Corfe.1 From the
London Basin there were known the Eocene Fruits of Sheppey, and scanty floras from
Reading and Dulwich, and from the outlier of the Hampshire Basin at Newhaven. At
the present day, however, owing to further collecting, we have available a whole series of
extensive floras, commencing from that of the Woolwich and Reading beds upwards,
embracing the Oldhaven beds, the London Clay, the Lower Bagshot, the Middle Bagshot,
and the Upper Eocenes ; in fact, from almost every stage of the Eocenes known to occur
in this country. This magnificent series of floras of consecutive, and in most cases
absolutely defined, age has as yet no parallel in any other country. Its contemplation
gives rise to problems, the direction and tendency 0 which are so unmistakable that,
in following the facts as recorded in the succeedingéiges, they will be apparent to the
student. ‘

I will first call attention to a few examples of the kind of problems which await
solution, and then refer to the value of the determinations of the plant-remains described
in this work.

1 For references, see page 1, et seq.

2 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

Beginning with the Woolwz'c/r and Reading! Beds, we have a flora, very limited in
extent, and consisting of a few, but apparently persistent types, which have a temperate
facies. It would be interesting if this could be proved to be a fragment of a flora
descended from the oldest indigenous dicotyledonous flora of the European or Eastern-
Atlantic area, before the Eocene temperature had been raised by causes about which I
have elsewhere hazarded some speculations.1

The next British Eocene flora, second in age and supposed to belong to the
Oldfiaven Beds, has quite another character, as far as we can judge from the present
materials. A small collection only has been made; but, by systematic work, results may
be looked for not surpassed by those obtained at Bournemouth. These materials seem
to indicate a relation to the Eocene floras of Sézanne. The same types, and the same
luxuriant preponderance of serrate dicotyledonous leaves, are characteristic of both. It
would almost seem that we have here another really indigenous, but somewhat more
sub-tropical, European flora, without the Australian or American types, which later on
so very considerably modified it.

In America we have, though possibly belongiiig‘to a far removed age, just such another
purely indigenous flora in the so-called Cretaceous Dakota Beds. These floras, which
are perfectly distinct from each other, seem to belong to a period antecedent to the
connection of Europe and America, although the rise of the afterwards connecting
land was probably, I think, even then gradually raising the temperature by shutting
off more and more completely the Arctic currents from the Atlantic. As at Sézanne,
there appears to be an absence of those Australian forms, especially the Protcacew,
which became so abundant at a later Eocene time. Saporta shows that in the so-called
Cretaceous and Eocene European floras, wherever European types are present, the
Australian element, or, at least, the Proteacew, are almost excluded, and that the
reverse is equally the case.2 But the presence or absence of Australian forms is known
in so many localities Where they occur, in an apparently arbitrary manner, which cannot
be accounted for either by difference of soil or climate, that the thought arises whether
it may not be possible that the relative ages of the isolated floras on the Continent have
been wrongly inferred. Instead of appearing and disappearing frequently, did not the
members of the Australian flora, like those of the American at a later date, come in, in
the way newly introduced species are now seen to do when climatic conditions are
favorable? The Australian type of plants had a great and sudden extension until

1 ‘Nature,’ December 12th, 1878, p. 124.

2 With regard to Sézanne, however, it may be urged that there are reasons why leaves of Proteacew
should not be found. The flora is evidently that of a shady, moist, and luxuriantly woody valley. The
leaves are found in a tufaceous matrix, and must have fallen from overhanging trees and adhered to the
sides of a ravine, wet, probably, with the spray of an adjacent waterfall charged with carbonate of lime.
Under such conditions travertine rocks are formed rapidly and enclose masses of leaves, as we see at Tivoli,

for instance, at the present day. It is, perhaps, unlikely, therefore, that Proteacece, which generally have
a dry habitat, even if abounding contemporaneously, would be preserved under such circumstances.

INTRODUCTION. 3

displaced by the American flora. If so, the floras without Proteacew may, in the absence
of other evidence, be looked upon as the more ancient; and we should fix, in some
measure, the date of the arrival of that Australian element whose presence in Europe,
when discovered and described, caused so much surprise.

The flora of the London Clay, unlike that of other stages, which are represented by
leaves principally, is known from seeds and fruits. I am indisposed at present to
speculate upon its affinities, since there is a possibility of obtaining leaves from the
Basement Bed. I will merely say that fruits belonging to the same genera, but specifically
different, are found in the Middle Bags/wt Beds, and that Heer believes the Sheppey
fruits and the Alum-Bay leaves belong to the same plants.

The Alum-Bay flora, of Lower Bays/wt age, has been so well explored that it is
rare, even after long work, to discover any form in it that is new. It abounds with
what are generally accepted as Proteaeeous leaves, and yet these are mingled with larger
leaves of Figs, Laurels, Leguminous plants, and the lobed leaves of Aralias, Maples, &c.,
representing a luxuriant flora which did not grow on sterile ground, or in a very dry
climate. It is a good example of the Australian type of an Eocene flora, and is most
distinct in England from those above and below it.

The newer Boumemoum flora, assigned in this work to the Mddle Bays/mt stage,
appears to beiseparated from the last by a great interval of time, for the flora seems
almost wholly American, and, singular to say, the small Pliocene flora of California,
described by Lesquereux, more resembles it generically, though the species are different,
than does any other known to me. In it the Proteacew are replaced by the American
JIyT'icacea’, and it seems to contain a number‘of existing American genera not previously
recognised among fossils.

' If these tentative speculations, founded at present on somewhat superficial know-
ledge, have any basis of truth, they would show that it was between the Lower and
Middle Bagshot periods that North America and Europe were connected by land. The
floras of the Upper Eocene merge gradually, without further striking change, into those
of the Miocene, whose story has been so often and so ably traced by Heer.

Although all these floras are here spoken of as strikingly disconnected, it must not
be supposed they are absolutely so; on the contrary, not a few forms are common to
many, and some may be found in all of them.

As the British Eocene floras become better known through the progress of our work
these speculations may receive confirmation or be altogether set aside. I have, however,
ventured to put them forward, as they may invest the study with an interest beyond
. that which the mere description and determination of the Plants alone would possess.

The singularly little attention as yet bestowed upon this subject in England has been
doubtless primarily due to the difficulty in satisfactorily determining the fossils. These
floras, mainly composed of detached dicotyledonous leaves, present such exceptional
difficulties that even when very great thought and care have been bestowed upon the

4 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

work, the correctness of the results may yet be open to doubt. No author has written
upon similar fioras without expressing his opinion of the magnitude of these difficulties.
Yet, many seem to have forgotten, during the progress of their work, the caution they
insisted on at its commencement. Nothing is more easy than to assign generic and
specific names to leaf-forms ; but, with such material, the determinations are so much a
matter of opinion that criticism or contradiction is useless.

The publication, however, of careful drawings of fossil plants is of value; and were
the determinations which have been made even more doubtful and provisional in
character than they are at present thought to be, it is, nevertheless, a real benefit to
science to accurately figure and describe all the obviously different leaves and fruits that
have been discovered. Many fossil leaves fade, others crack and peel off from the
matrix; dust can never be completely removed, and necessarily obscures the more
delicate venation ; indeed, these characters are so easily obliterated that without exceptional
care the specimens soon become valueless. Fossil fruits are from other causes equally
difficult of preservation. Unfortunately leaves formerly collected in quantity from J;
Corfe, Branksea, Dulwich, and many other places, are no longer to be obtained from
these localities; and almost all of the few specimens still in existence have become so
obscure that they give very imperfect evidence of the nature of these floras. Thus, links
in the history of plant-life are lost, perhaps beyond recovery.

As long ago as 1854, Edward Forbes, in his Anniversary Address1 to the Geological
Society, called attention to the necessity of doing something with these fioras.

“ Were all known fragments of distinct vegetables found in our Tertiaries mono-
graphed and named in the manner of those I shall have presently to mention, described
and figured in the lately published memoirs by Austrian Botanists, our lists would be
considerably increased. They certainly ought to be made the subject of a treatise, and
might be advantageously taken up by the Palaeontographieal Society, which, as yet,
has given no separate memoir on British fossil plants.”

It is to be‘greatly regretted that no practical steps have hitherto been taken to
accomplish this work, as, since Professor Forbes made this suggestion, instances have
come under my own notice in which whole beds of leaves have been either carried away
by the sea, or quarried out, or deeply buried under refuse.

It seems likely that the cautions formerly reiterated by such distinguished men as
Hooker, Charles Bunbury, and E. Forbes himself, intended to direct investigation, have
had the practical effect of discouraging British palaeontologists from undertaking it, since
the only writings of importance upon our British Tertiary floras are, with the exception of
Bowerbank’s description of the fossil fruits of the London Clay, by foreigners. Botanists
when consulted have very often, unintentionally no doubt, deterred collectors from
taking any further interest in fossil leaf-forms by the emphatic stress they have laid
upon the variation to which leaves belonging to the same species of plant are subject,

1 ‘Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. x, p. lvi.

INTRODUCTION. 5

and upon plants Widely separated in a natural classification having the same form
of leaf. Intending students have been led to think that leaves may not be sepa-
rated into species when they are dissimilar in form, nor united in one when similar.
Surely, however, it does not follow that, because the task is difficult, nothing should
be attempted. Apart from their determination, if we regard leaves merely as signs,
and are indifferent, for instance, as to whether they belong to Oak, or Beech, or
Elm, or to common ancestors of these, they still possess much interest, since frequently
on their evidence alone the date of many a volcanic eruption, change of level, or silting
up of lakes, has to be fixed. Even in our own country, we see that the volcanic outbursts
of Mull and the North of Ireland, and the lake-system at Bovey-Tracey, have been
determined to be of Miocene age entirely on plant evidence.-

However great the difficulties may be in determining these fossil plants from the
isolated organs which alone for the most part we possess, the task is certainly not
altogether hopeless. Fortunately we are not wholly dependent upon leaves, but have
‘ large series of fruits and seeds as well, and even occasional flowers to assist us. Were
we, therefore, to find leaves which, although seemingly of Oaks, for example, but which
might be leaves of other and Widely separate families, we should hesitate how to
class them; but if we find that acorns had been floated down by the same river
which brought the leaves, our doubts would be greatly removed. With the increasing
stock of knowledge such results may be hopefully looked for. But even where we have
nothing but detached leaves to deal with, much may be done. Many plants can be
recognised by the form of the leaves, still more by the venation, and their determination is
more certain when the texture is preserved. The latter is of great importance; for
instance, the leaves of a species of Nettle and of a Cinnamon have the same venation and
form, yet owing to the difference in their texture they could, even if fossil, hardly be
mistaken. Texture, however, although indicated in the fossil, cannot always be reproduced
'in the illustrations. Even the leaves of those plants which vary much can generally be
recognised, if a large series he examined, by their venation, though in outline they may
be quite dissimilar. The question is not, however, whether some plants so vary that it
is impossible to determine them from their leaves, but it would be important to determine
whether the species of the living genera to which these fossils have been referred are so
variable. The habit of collecting and attentively examining fossils from deposits of one
age, if extended over many years, induces so great a familiarity with their peculiarities of
texture and aspect that they become easily recognisable by minor differences, which
would escape even a botanical specialist who passed them under examination for the first
time. Again, considerable advantage is gained by attending to the general assemblage
of plants in a fossil flora. As an instance, we find at Bournemouth a leaf, hitherto
supposed to be that of a Casianea, associated abundantly and almost exclusively with
Palms and Ferns of tropical American type. The correctness of the determination
appears doubtful, since we have no precedent for such a grouping, whereas a species

6 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

of Godoya even more nearly resembles the Bournemouth leaf, and its presence might be
expected in such company. The large series of the same forms of leaves which I have
brought together thus greatly facilitate their determination. The limits of variation
in many given leaf-forms can be recognised; leaves which would be included as varieties,
if found singly, are seen to be persistent in their form. Gradually the work becomes
easier; to-day we have but isolated leaves; to-morrow a chance brings to light an
associated fruit or flower, a branchlet of leaves, showing their attachment—some clue by
which conjecture is rendered almost certainty.

In arriving at our decisions respecting the comparative ages of isolated floras, besides
taking into consideration those differences which are likely to be present when they are
widely separated, either by latitude or longitude, we must make allowance for local causes,
which influence and even change the character of neighbouring floras at the present day.
These are so well known that it is only necessary to allude to them here. Plant-remains
from argillaceous, and arenaceous soils would more or less differ. Limestones, serpentine,
and basalts have characteristic plants. Peat and soil impregnated with saline matters
nourish plants that are markedly dissimilar. Local differences in climate, such as are
caused by the prevalence of certain winds, excess of moisture, proximity to mountain
ranges, or to sea-currents of different temperatures, exert a powerful influence on
vegetation. Difference of altitude, it is well known, makes almost as much change in
each foot vertically as in miles horizontally. Some of these conditions have no doubt
modified the fioras to be described. .

As plants of the Tertiary period are found in a more and more extended area, we see
that very frequently leaves, evidently of the same species, have been placed by authors in
many, and'sometimes widely, different genera. As knowledge increases, such differences
will in due course become corrected. Free interchange of ideas, and, where possible, of
specimens before final publication, would obviate much of this burdensome synonomy in
the future. It would also be more dignified and satisfactory were authors of species
themselves from time to time to disclaim those which had become synonyms or were
founded on insufficient characters or data, instead of leaving others, not in so good a
position, to make the corrections. Eventually it is to be hoped that Botanists, who have
made especial orders of living plants their study, following the example so well set by
Mr. Hiern in his ‘ Monograph of the Ebenaceae,’ may be tempted to devote themselves
to a critical examination of the determinations hitherto made, so that the immense
importance of Plant Remains, which exceeds in many respects that of Animal Remains,
may be eventually conceded to them.

Notwithstanding their importance, no section of Palmontology has been more
neglected by our fellow-countrymen than the plants of the Tertiary Period. The floras of
our older rocks are familiar to us by the works of Lindley, Hutton, Williamson, Binney,
Carruthers, and others. Phillips has given us a considerable insight into the nature of
the British Jurassic flora; but from Oolitic times plant-history is still, so far as this

INTRODUCTION. 7

country is concerned, comparatively a blank. It is true that for long ages we have but the
scantiest remains to tell us how vegetation progressed in this area, and the subject, until
Tertiary times are reached, from its very meagreness, has offered few attractions to its
research. Such materials as have been brought to light have been investigated by
Carruthers, who has published in a series of papers as much as there is known respecting
British Cretaceous floras. The vast fresh-water deposits of the Wealden, in which, from
analogy, we should have expected to find‘ series of plant-remains important in the history
of evolution, have yielded little else but Ferns, Cycads, and Conifers. The Neocomian
flora appears to have been similar. The marine beds of our Cretaceous rocks have from
top to bottom yielded only a few isolated remains of Conifers, which had probably been
drifted out to sea. No remains whatever of Dicotyledons have been found in them ; and
a few rolled pellets of wood, with a palm-like structure, are the only traces of
Monocotyledons which they anywhere present.

I have elsewhere1 spoken of the immense gap in the geological record which exists in
England between our Uppermost Chalk and our Lowest Eocene, completely severing the
plant-life of the latter period from all that preceded it. If we turn to other countries
we see that this gap is but partially filled up, for it is still doubtful whether any of the
foreign Cretaceous beds containing Dicotyledons were contemporaneous even with our
Chalk, our highest member of the series.

From nearly the commencement of our Eocenes, on the contrary, almost every
section has been found to contain mere or less extensive series of plant-remains, forming
a striking contrast, from their abundance and variety, to the remains found in beds
preceding them. Although this has long been familiar to English Botanists and
Geologists, the only attempts to describe English Eocene plants, so far as I know, have,
with few exceptions, been on a very limited scale. These are hereafter noticed in
detail in their stratigraphical and chronological order.

The nearly unbroken sequence seen in the Eocene floras extends into the Miocene.
There is-no great break in passing from one to the other when we compare them over
many latitudes, and but little change beyond that brought about by altered temperature
or migration. But if Tertiary floras of different ages are met with in one area, great
changes on the contrary are seen, and these are mainly due to progressive modifications
in climate, and to altered distribution of land. From Middle Eocene to Miocene the
heat imperceptibly diminished. Imperceptibly, too, the tropical members of the flora
disappeared; that is to say, they migrated, for most of their types, I think, actually
survive at the present day, many but very slightly altered. Then the sub-tropical
members decreased, and the temperate forms, never quite absent even in the Middle
Eo‘cenes, preponderated. As decreasing temperature drove the tropical forms south,
the more northern must have pressed closely upon them. The Northern Eocene, or the
temperate floras of that period, must have pushed, from their home in the far north,

1 ‘ The Popular Science Review,’ January, 1879, p. 55.

8 BRITISH EOCEN E FLORA.

more and more south as climates chilled, and at last, in the Miocene time, occupied our
latitudes. The relative preponderance of these elements, I believe, will assist in
determining the age of Tertiary deposits in Europe, more than any minute comparisons
of species. Thus it is useless to seek in the Arctic Regions for Eocene floras, as we
know them in our latitudes, for during the Tertiary period the climatic conditions of
the earth did not permit their growth there. Arctic fossil floras of temperate, and
therefore Miocene aspect, are in all probability of Eocene age, and what has been recog-
nised in them as a newer or Miocene facies is due to their having been first studied in
Europe in latitudes which only became fitted for them in Miocene times.

When stratigraphical evidence is absent or inconclusive, this unexpected persistence of
plant types or species throughout the Tertiaries should be remembered, and the degrees
of latitude in which they are found should be well considered before conclusions are
published respecting their relative age.

FLORA

OF THE

BRITISH EOCENE FORMATIONS.

 

I. FLORA or THE THANET SAND.

VERY little is known of the flora of this earliest Eocene Period of England, and there
is some doubt as to the exact age of even the few plant-remains which have been
described as belonging to it.

In the second volume of Lindley and Hutton’s ‘ Fossil Flora,’ 1833-5, is a figure1 of
3. Cone, described as Zamz'a 7llac7‘000_7)]tald, and in the third volume, another called Zamz'a
0mm.2 These were supposed to be Cretaceous, but they are now known to be from the
Thanet Sands. One is from near Deal, the other from Faversham. Additional material
having been discovered, these species were examined and redescribed by Carruthers, in
the ‘ Geological Magazine ’ for 1866,3 as Piniz‘es macroccp/aalus and .P. ovaius. ' In 1870
Carruthers read a paper“ on Osmmdz'tes Dow/rem, a fossil fern-stem from Herne Bay, and
in 1872 Thiselton Dyer5 described fossil wood from the same locality. Coniferous wood
has also been found, Professor Morris informs me, at Riehborough in Kent.

11. FLORA or THE WOOLWICH AND READING BEDS.

The earliest notice of the occurrence of plants in these strata is to be found in
Webster’s paperG “ On the Strata lying over the Chalk,” published in 1814. To
Warburton belongs the credit of having first discovered the remains of fossil leaves at
Newhaven. They were mentioned in subsequent papers, and in 1817 Sowerby gave a
figure7 of the prevailing leaf, which, he conjectured, might be near to Platcmus ov'z'entalz's.
Mantell in 18.228 held the same opinion when he figured the same species with some
additional forms.

In 1854, Prestwich figured and Hooker described a number of leaves and other
vegetable remains from Reading and from Counter Hill ,9 but Hooker declined to hazard

1 Pl. 125, p. 117.

2 Pl. 226, p. 189.

3 Vol. iii, P15. 20, 21, p. 534.

4 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. xxvi, p. 349, pls. 24 and 25; ‘ Geol. Mag.,’ v01. ix, p. 52.
5 ‘ Geol. Mag.,’ vol. ix, p. 52.

6 ‘ Trans. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. ii, p. 191.

7 ‘British Mineralogy,’ vol. v, p. 185, pl. 500.

8 Mantell, ‘ Geol. Sussex,’ pl. 8, p. 262.

9 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. x, pp. 88 and 163, pl. 4.

1 0 . BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

any determinations upon the very insufficient materials. Shortly after appeared a note by
Hooker 1 on Carpolz't/zes ovuZum from Lewisham, which he supposed was the sporangium
of a cryptogamous plant; but this opinion has not been adopted by recent writers, who
consider it the seed of a Nymphaceous plant.2 De-la-HarpeS considered that the Reading
leaves might be determined, and in 1856 referred them to various genera.

In the table of fossils from these beds in the fourth volume of the ‘ Geological Survey
Memoirs,’ 1). 578, six of these leaves have specific names attached to them.

In 1875 Rupert Jones and Cooper King“ noticed fragments of leaf-bedsenclosed in
. strata in a newly exposed section at Reading.

A most careful search there has resulted up to the present in nothing more than
indistinct leaf-remains, principally of 'Willow form.

Mr. E. S. Dewick informs me. that a bed of leaves was cut through fourteen years
since by a railway excavation at Mottingham, and has forwarded me the small fragments
that were preserved. Other leaf-remains have been found at Charlton.

Very few of the plant-remains from the Woolwich and Reading Beds are now in a
condition to be of value for descriptive purposes; but some, sufficiently well preserved,
exist in the British, J ermyn Street, and the Geological Society’s Museums, and I possess
a series from Dulwich, which were formerly in Bowerbank’s collection. In addition
to this, in 1878 I obtained from Newhaven a considerable number of leaves in a beautiful
state of preservation. This I esteem the more fortunate, since the leaf-bed is very local
and has almost entirely fallen into the sea, whither it will be followed at no distant date
by the rest of the outlier. I shall therefore be able to give an account, though very
imperfect, of this Lower-Eocene flora. Little diversity seems its chief feature, for the
greater part of the leaves found by Mantell, Prestwich, and myself, belong to a small
number of species. An Aralia—like leaf has been found at Lewisham. I have not seen
any remains of the palms mentioned as coming from the formation, or the cone figured
by Prestwich (l. 0.), and I fear they may now be disintegrated.

III. FLORA on THE OLDHAVEN BEDS.

Whitaker 5 mentions plant-remains in these beds from several localities. The most
important is at Widmore Kiln, Bromley. Some leaves from that place were sub-
mitted to Carruthers, who remarked upon them as follows :——“The series of leaves

1 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. xi, pl. xvi, p. 562.
2 Schimper, ‘ Traité de Pa1.,’ vol. iii, p. 93.

3 ‘Bull. Soc. Vaudoise,’ vol. v, p. 123.

4 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. xxxi, p. 451.

5 ‘ Mem. Geol. Surv.,’ vol. iv, 1872, pp. 247, 582.

LONDON-CLAY FLORA. 11

contain two well-marked types, which have been almost invariably recognised as
belonging to Ficus and Ciaoamomum. The carbonised wood is coniferous.”

This flora differs materially from that of Alum Bay, and from that off 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 or THE LONDON CLAY.

The Fossil Fruits 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 copperas 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,1 is an anonymous ‘ Fossiliae Sheppeianae Catalogus ”9 of 1709. The next, 1757,
is a paper by Dr. J. Parsons,3 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 supposed by Dr. Woodward, but, from the ripeness of the fruits, in autumn.

In 1777 E. Jacob, in an Appendix to the ‘ Plantae Favershamienses,’ gives a list of
fossil plants from Sheppey, under the heads of Lignum fossile, Equisetum, Fructus varii
Aristae, and Mycetidae.

In 1811 Parkinson4 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 Webster5 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 Végétaux Fossiles,’
describes three fruits from Sheppey, to which he gives the names of Cocos Par/cz'nsom'z',

1 ‘Mem. Geol. Surv.,’ vol. iv. 9 ‘ Monthly Miscellany,’ vol. iii, p. 163.

3 ‘ Phil. Trans,’ vol. I, p. 396, p1. vi. 4 ‘ Organic Remains, &c.,’ vol. i, pls. vi and vii.

5 ‘Trans. Geol. Soc.,’ ser. 1, vol. ii, p. 2. The information appears to have been derived from a
MS. Catalogue (now in the British Museum), by Francis Crow, of Faversham, dated 1810, illustrated
with 831 drawings, supposed by the author to represent about 700 varieties. '

 

12 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

Amomocarpam depressam, and Paaa’anocarpam pyramidatam, and adds that many unde-
termined species of Carpolithes occur there. In 1832 Lindley and Hutton, in the list
of fossil plants, prefixed to the first volume of the ‘ Fossil Flora,’l include the species of
Brongniart, with some additional forms based on portions of plants, as Palmacites,
Flabellaria, Caulinites, Equisetum, and Fucoides.

In 1840 Bowerbank commenced a ‘ History of the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the
London Clay,’ which was to be completed in five parts. The first part was published,
but the second part, although announced as in preparation, never appeared. The
illustrations, by J. de G. Sowerby, are particularly well drawn. The descriptions of
szaa’z'tis are remarkably accurate, and the correctness of the author’s approximation of
them to Nana has stood the test of time. Not so, however, the thirteen species into
which the author divides them, it being now considered that few of these can be
maintained. The author seems throughout to have made too many species. It was
supposed that the fruits had been floated from a warmer clime; but Heer, in 1845,
_ pointed out that the leaves found at Alum Bay belonged to similar groups. Herne
Bay and other localities, in addition to Sheppey, have yielded fossil fruits; and resin,
besides fossil wood, has frequently been met with at Highgate. The impressions of
leaves have been found in the Basement-Bed of the London Clay at Barnet’s End,
near Heme] Hempstead.2 I regret that I have not been able to see these plants, which,
if well preserved, are of extreme interest,

Ettingshausen has entirely devoted four months’ stay in London, made in connection
with our work, to a preliminary examination of the Sheppey fruits, and he is already able
to announce the presence of the following genera 2—P2'72as, Callifrz's, Salisbarz'a ,- Masa,
Saba], Elms, Iriartea, Livistona, Oenocarpas; Qaercas, Ligaidambar, Mara, Diospyros,
899771920008, Magnolia, Jag/Zane, Eucalyptus, Ayivygclalas, Baa/5672M. He further recognises
three genera of palms, which he is unable yet to determine, and several new and inte-
resting fruits belonging to Apocynaceae, Cinchonaceae, Cucurbitacew, &c.

V. FLORA OF THE BAGSHOT FORMATION.

The plants of these beds form, when united, by far the most extensive and varied
fossil flora, of approximately one age, brought together from any single country. In
treating of their Bibliography it will save repetition to consider them as one.

The leaf-impressions from Alum Bay have been known for a long time, for the first
mention of them which I have met alludes to them as already familiar to geologists.
The first published reference of these remains to any group of plants was by the

1 ‘ Foss. Flora of Great Britain,’ vol. i, p. xliii.
2 ‘Mem. Geol. Surv.,’ vol. iv, p. 586.

FLORA OF THE BAGSHOT FORMATION. 13

Rev. W. B. Clarke,1 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. B. Brodie first
announced that fossil leaves in clay were to be found to the east of Bournemouth.2
‘These he supposed to belong to Lauraceae and Amentacew, to Characem and other
Cryptogams. In 1844 Mantell3 noticed them, and adopts Brodie’s views; again in
1847,4 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
Lycopodz'tes squamams and Cucumz'z‘es variabilz's, and the third was called Pinitcs Dixoni.
There were also figured some very beautiful sections of palm-stems picked up on the
beach near Worthing and Shoreham.6

In 1851 Mantel],7 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
Lauraceae and. Amentaceae, and some he referred more specially to species of Willow,
Poplar, and Laburnum. In another of his works8 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, 6. 51., Nerium
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. Brodie9 noticed the occurrence, at Corfe, of elytra of
Coleopterous Insects belonging to the families Curculionidae and Buprestidae. 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,10 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.

3 ‘ Medals of Creation,’ vol. i, p. 193.

4 ‘ Geol. Isle of Wight,’ p. 169.

5 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. v, p. 43.

6 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,’ 1851, p. 51.

9 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. ix, p. 53.

10 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. x, p. 75.

 

 

14 I BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

known in the Bracklesham flora. In the same year the elytra of four Beetles were
figured by Westwood ,1 and Ruegg 2 mentions that the delicate leaf-impressions from the
Dorsetshire pipe-clays belong for the most part to the natural order Salicineae.

Nothing further was published until 1856, when the first attempt to give a general
description of these floras, and to determine their species, was made by De-la-Harpe.3'
Some 300 specimens were got together from all the known collections. From Alum
Bay alone 200 were examined, all being either in the possession of the Geological
Survey, Bowerbank, 0r Prestwich. Of the Alum Bay flora 48 species were recognised
and 43 determined; 13 of these were said to be common to Bournemouth, 7 to Corfe
Castle, 3 to Reading, and 26 peculiar to itself. A Maple and a Poplar were abundant
in individuals. Figs and Laurels are represented by many species; the largest leaf is
that of a Walnut. Two or three Banksias are common ; but the most abundant in species
and individuals are the Leguminosae, which, he remarks, are absent at Bournemouth and
Corfe.

For the Bournemouth Flora there was only a small number of specimens in the
Geological Survey Museum. Twenty-two species were, however, recognised, 13 common
to Alum Bay, 5 t0 Corfe, 1 to Counter Hill; all were dicotyledonous, except a small
parasitic Fungus. The species in the same Museum obtained at Corfe Were identified, 7
as common to Alum Bay, and 5 to Bournemouth. De-la-Harpe enters into comparisons
of the floras, and bases upon them conclusions which were, perhaps, justified by the
imperfect materials then at his command.

In 1859 Heerf supposing the age of the Alum Bay leaf-bed to be the same as that
of the Barton Clay, alludes to them as “ Upper Eocene.” His trained perception led
him to detect the connection between the Alum Bay and the Sheppey floras. The
leaves of Apciéopsis, De-la-Harpe, are, he says, “ perhaps from the same tree whose
fruit Bowerbank named Ouczmzz'z‘es variaéilis.5 At Bournemouth leaves are found,
apparentiy of Cupam'a, which may, perhaps, be combined with the fruit of Cupanoz'des.”
The flora more particularly resembles that of Monte Bolca, 9 species out of 40 being
considered to be common to both.

In 1862 the Geological Survey published a ‘ Memoir on the Isle of Wight,’ in which
all the then determined fossil leaves and fruits from Alum Bay were tabulated (pp. 121,
&c.) and 21 species figured (pls. 5, 6, and 7), and described by De-la-Harpe (pp. 109,
&c.). This, the most important work hitherto brought out on the subject, was left
in the hands of De-la-Harpe, Salter having no responsibility in this portion of the work.
In the first introductory sentence by Salter the fossil floras of Bournemouth, Corfe, and

1 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. x, p. 381, p1. xvi, figs. 34, 35 ; also pl. xiv, figs. 4 and 8, see ‘ GeoL
Mag.,’ vol. vii, p. 348.

2 ‘ Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc.,’ vol. xv, p. 394.

3 ‘ Bull. de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles,’ 1856.

4 ‘ Flora Tertiaria Helvetiae,’ vol. iii, p. 314. . 5 ‘ Flor. Tert. Helv.,’ vol. iii, p. 314.

FLORA OF THEBAGSHOT FORMATION. 15

Alum .Bay, are said to be “identical,” and a little further on these places are said to be
“ on exactly the same horizon,” although their relative positions had long previously been
pointed out by Prestwich and others. The determinations and correlations are very
incorrect, probably from the specimens being mixed, since of 22 species from Bourne-
mouth, 13 are said to be identical with those of Alum Bay; but we now know that
none of the characteristic forms are common to both horizons. Palms are said to be
met with only at Oorfe; yet two species are included in the list of fossils from Alum
Bay, in the body of the work, at p. 42. This memoir does not include any species not
published in De-la-Harpe’s previous work; an addendmn contains a rough list from
Hcer of the genera found in the Miocene of Oeningen, which has no apparent con-
nection with the subject.

In 1865 W. S. Mitchell,1 who for some time previously had been working at
the Lower and Middle Bagshot Beds, figured a species of Parana, which he pro-
visionally named P. Vectensz's. He also noticed various new leaves, to which, however»
he declined to attach either generic or specific names. In 1866211e again announced
the discovery of further leafmforms at Alum Bay, without offering any opinion as
to the number of species obtained. Some 470 specimens had been collected, and
drawings of some were exhibited to the British Association.3 Two years later G. Maw"
expressed the opinion that the Parana of Mitchell, and another flower-like form from
Studland, resemble Kydz'a more than Porana. In 18695 A. Wanklyn described frag-
ments of a Gleic/eenia from Bournemouth, for which he proposed a new genus and two
species. In 1870 Mansell-Pleydell6 noticed the occurrence of plant-remains at Alum
Bay, Studland, 850., especially mentioning Glez'c/aem'a and Sabal.

From this time little has been written except the few brief notices in which
I have quite recently called attention to the unexpected extent of the Bagshot floras
of Hampshire and Dorsetshire. These will be found in the ‘Reports of Conferences
held in connection with the Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus in 1876, Section
' of Physical Geography, &c.,’ p. 4:12; in the text of a lecture given in the latter part of
1876, at the South Kensington Museum ;7 in a paper read before the “ Geologists'
Association,” January 5th, 1877, published in the fifth volume of their ‘ Proceedings ;’
in subsequent papers in ‘ Nature,’8 and in an article in the ‘ Popular Science Review ’ for
July, 1878.

In Prof. Rupert J ones’s second edition of Dixon’s ‘ Geology of Sussex,’ 1878, p. 162,

1 ‘ Geo]. Mag,’ vol. ii (1865), p. 516, figs. 1—3.
2 ‘Geol. Mag.,’ v01. iii (1866), 476.
3 ‘ Report Brit. Assoc.,’ 1866, p. 146.
4 ‘ Geol. Mag.,’ vol. v (1868), p. 74.
5 ‘Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.,’ ser. iv, vol. iii, p. 10, pl. i.
6 ‘ Flora of Dorset.’
7
8

‘ Nature,’ January 11th, 1877, and following week.
March 29th, August 9th, November 15th, 1877, &c..

 

16 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

&c., Carruthers determines the plant-remains mentioned by the original authors as
Pim'tes 021mm, Bowerb., P6722168 Boweréaiz/cz', Carr., fragment of a Coniferous twig,
Uedrowylon Wort/zingense, Carr., Palmacz'tes Diwom', Carr., Palmacites constrictus, Carr,
Palmacz'tes oélonyus, Carr., Carpolz'tes Diwom', Carr., and Dicotyledonous Wood.

§ 1. THE LOWER-BAGSHOT FLonA.——Next to that from Sheppey this is the most
widely known of the English Eocene Floras. It has attracted considerable attention,
partly perhaps on account of the beds being conspicuously exposed and easily accessible
at Alum Bay. In the pipe-clay bed which occurs there we have an exceedingly well-
preserved and beautiful, as well as extensive, flora. The leaves, almost always detached,
are flat and smooth, and appear to have belonged principally to deciduous forest-trees.
The species are not abundant, compared with the number of specimens. The distinctive
character of the flora is due to the size and variety of the leaves ascribed to the genus
Ficus and to the Leguminosae, in a scarcely less degree to a deeply cleft palmate Aralia,
a trilobed leaf resembling Liquidambar, a deeply serrate Banksia, and other leaves referred
to Comptonia, Dryandra, and Myrica. Few, if any, of these have been found in the
Middle Bagshot division at Bournemouth. The inference that the Studland beds were
of the same geological age as those of Alum Bay has been confirmed, many of the
characteristic Alum Bay leaves having lately been found there, including the Aralia and
Liquidambar, The Studland flora, however, has a somewhat different character; for
although all the dicotyledons are identical, they are in the minority, and their leaves
are bent and mingled with masses of broken fronds of large Fan-palms and Ferns ;
whilst many Insect wing-cases and Shells have been met with implying, as I believe,
greater proximity to land. Mitchell informs me that leaves in good preservation
were formerly found in the clay-pits at Branksea Island, of thisage, but no record of
their forms is preserved. Splendid specimens used to be obtained abundantly from
the Corfe pits, but time and dust have so obliterated the smaller leaves that have been
preserved as to render them valueless for purposes of identification. Fragments of
Fan-palms in various Museums, and some large-lobed leaves in the Museum at Oxford,
are almost the only well-marked specimens still remaining. Repeated search in these
pits of late years has only brought to light a few leaves of simple form, without distinct
venation. No record of the forms of the leaves discovered in pipe-clay at Newbury exists
as far as I know.1 The Lower-Bagshot flora appears to possess such very distinctive
characters that we may be enabled safely to compare it with European fossil floras, and
so to fix their horizon.

§ 2. THE MIDDLE-BAGSHOT FLORA.—Thls appears to be far more extensive and
more varied than that of the Lower Bagshot beds, although less known, collecting
having been hitherto confined to the cliffs close to Bournemouth. Leaves, flowers, and

1 ‘ Memoirs of the Geol. Survey,’ vol. iv, p. 312.

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 Lygodiuxn 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 directions ,1 and under these a bed of leaves, the pre-
vailing form being a Myrica, not elsewhere met with at Bournemouth. The 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, which appear to me
to resemble Iriartea more than any other genus, and a Castanea-like leaf (Godoya ‘1’),
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 Osnzumla

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

3

=18 ‘ , BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

22mm, 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 occurrence, 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-like 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 Dacrydium. The last fresh-water beds met with contain
the remarkable forms referred to the Polypodiaceae. 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 Illarz'ne 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 them when based on leaves alone.

7756 Flora of Bovey-Ilkacey.—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 Osmmzda limb/tam 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 (Palmacz'tes Demonorops, Heer) 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,

MIDDLE EOCENE FLORAS. 19'

the Figs, in fact nearly, if not quite all the Dicotyledonous leaves are identical, so-
that the Bournemouth flora itself must be Miocene if that of Bovey be Miocene.
Were a minority of the plants, instead of a majority, common to both, it would not be
surprising, seeing that neighbouring patches at Bournemouth differ much more con-
siderably in their contents from each other than does the Bovey-Tracey flora, as a whole,
from that of Bournemouth; and we could therefore hardly have expected to find,
especially taking into consideration the variety and richness of the Middle-Bagshot flora,
an exactly similar assemblage of plants so far removed from each other and growing,
perhaps, at a different level. The Bovey flora, according to Heer, bears the greatest
resemblance to that of Monosque among French Tertiary Floras, of whose Eocene age
I entertain no doubt, for it is the one bearing the greatest relationship to these Middle
Bagshot beds. The three small seeds which are supposed to link Bovey with Hempstead
are, in my opinion, insignificant, and, indeed, are not confined to that section of the
Eocene. The subject might be pursued further, but the progress of this work may be
left to show the correctness of my views respecting the age of these beds.

When Heer wrote1 in 1861 it must be remembered that no Eocene floras of any extent
had been described, and scarcely any material existed for comparison, except what was of
Miocene age. , The fossil flora of Bournemouth was a sealed book, and many Eocene floras
on the Continent were then thought to be Miocene, so that in making comparisons error
was certain to be introduced. He was also, no doubt, influenced by the Alum-Bay
plants, which hardly resemble those of Bovey, and probably somewhat by the precon-
ceived opinions of English geologists. It appears to me that in the then state of
knowledge regarding these Tertiary Floras he could scarcely avoid classing the Bovey
beds with the Miocene.

As the specimens from Bovey-Tracey were described by Heer in the ‘ Philosophical
Transactions ’ for 1862, it is not proposed to refer further to them except in so far as the
materials here worked up modify the views of the original describer.

§ 3. THE UPPER-BAGSHOT FLORA.——No plants whatever have been hitherto described
from beds of this age. I have extracted from some of the lignites at Barton fragments of
Fir-cones and indistinct seeds, and some similar remains are to be found in the Wood-
wardian Museum, Cambridge.

VI. THE UPPER EOCENE FLORAs.

§ 1. THE HEADON FLORA.—NO plants have been recorded from the Headon beds,
except three species of Chara, Carpolz't/les ovulum, and Folliculites illale'ctroz'oles.2 Palma-

1 ‘Phil. Transact.,’ 1862, part ii, published in 1863.
2 Bristow, ‘Mem. Geol. Surv.,’ 1862.

20 ' BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

cites Lamaizwzis, the woodcut of which has so frequently been introduced by Mantell in
his various works, may be from this stage. Fortunately, however, Henry Keeping, in
1876, came across several line specimens of a Feather-palm at Hordwell, now in the
Woodwardian Museum. I have since seen large ironstone concretions at Hordwell
traversed by similar leaves.

§2. ’I‘nn BEMBRIDGE FI.0RA.——Notliing but some fruits of Characeae1 had been
noticed from these beds; I have, however, seen branches of Conifers and seeds in the
Bembridge Marls, at‘Hempstead. J. A’Court Smith has recently collected an extensive
flora from Gurnet Bay, including, as he informs me, a large series of Dicotyledons,
Palms, &c.

_ §3. Tun IInMPerAD FLORA—This flora was partially known to Lindley and
Hutton in 1832, who alluded to it in the preface to their work, as the “ Upper Fresh-
water Formation.” Nymphaea and Zosterites are the only fossils mentioned by them as
occurring in it. Edward Forbes in 18522 separated and described the Hempstead Beds.
In 18563 he again described them, and mentions ’I‘ypha-like leaves, Tamites Parisiensz's,
three species of Chara, and Folliculz'fes flzalz'clroides as occurring in them. In 1862"”
a second species of Folliculz'z‘es was added to the list. In 1862 Heer5 described and
figured the then known Hempstead flora, ten species in all. In 1863 Heer, in ‘The
Lignite Formation of Bovcy-Tracey,’ by Pengelly and himself, described four species
common to the two localities.

Although the greater part of this flora is composed of seeds and mere fragments of
reed-like plants, beautiful leaves Of Nelumbium and a small Fan-palm have been found.

BRITISH EOCENE FERNS.

THE objections to the determination of dicotyledonous leaves apply with considerably
less weight to those based upon Fern fronds. Where these, however, are fragmentary
and no trace of fructifieation is present, there is still great uncertainty, for a number of
existing genera include species that have the most varied venation. It is fortunate that
many of the Ferns described in the present work have been determined either from very
numerous, or exceptionally well-preserved specimens. We therefore believe that, not-
withstanding the difficulties arising from the well-known tendency of certain Ferns to

, 1 ‘ Mem. Geol. Survey, Isle of Wight,’ 1862.
2 ‘Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. ix.
3 ‘ Hem. Geol. Survey, Isle of Wight,’ 1856, p. 44.

4 Bristow, ‘ Mem. Geol. Surv., Isle of Wight,’ 1862.
5 ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. xviii, p. 369.

EOCENE FERNS. :21

variation in the form of their fronds, and even in the angles and relative proximity of
the venules, errors or unnecessary multiplication of species have been avoided. Nearly
all the specimens from Bournemouth, whence they were chiefly procured, seem to have
been macerated so as to disconnect the pinnae and remove the spores.

Ferns are relatively rare in British Eocenes, and yet some twenty distinct forms are
described in this Monograph. The floras consist principally of deciduous dicotyledo-
nous leaves, which, in the ordinary course of events, fell into the water and were tranquilly
silted over. Ferns, on the other hand, would require some violence to remove them
from the place of their growth, and their preservation would consequently be exceptional,
and they would be mutilated and fragmentary. This may account for their rarity.

Few as these British forms are in the number of species, they nevertheless form the
largest and most important series of Eocene, even of Tertiary Ferns, yet described from
any one group of beds.

Although our knowledge of the Ferns which existed in Tertiary times is still most
imperfect, yet we find that nearly all of them have allied living representatives, although
none of these now live in the British Isles. So close, in fact, are the resemblances in
many cases, that it is difficult to avoid the belief that they are the more or less direct
descendants of the fossil forms; indeed, some Continental authors, think that in the

,Miocenes of Switzerland the directly intervening forms can be traced.

A few of the genera here described belong to groups which have not previously
been found fossil; but many of them are Eocene forms already described. It is
interesting to find that some of these, like a few living species, ranged synchronously over
both hemispheres, as a few are also found fossil in North America.

One of the most remarkable, and a very abundant form, is a Citrysodz'zm, which ranges
from the Alum-Bay beds at Studland, through the Lower-Bournemouth series, into the
overlying marine beds, and has a no less wide range upon the Continent. The
Polypodz'cce with reticulated venation are represented by at least three species; numbers of
specimens of each having been obtained. Their venation is somewhat abnormal, in one
instance approaching so nearly to that of dicotyledons as to leave considerable doubt in
my mind as to its determination. The Ptem'dew are represented by several species, the
most abundant of which is closely allied to many Eocene and Miocene forms already
known. Another, of which we have only a fragment, is related to a group with reticu-
lated venation now living in Polynesia. A third is hardly distinguishable from the
widely distributed Miocene P. finiflyensis. A unique specimen is doubtfully referred to
the Asplerzacew. The Aspidz'acew have three representatives, one of which possesses
a new type of venation, somewhat resembling that of certain dicotyledons, and
has been placed by Ettingshausen in a new genus. The others are referred to
Plieyoptem's, and resembles living forms. Gide/acme, well known in Cretaceous times,
has only been met with in admittedly Eocene strata at Bournemouth, where it is
represented by a trailing or climbing form, of most local and limited distribution. The

22 BRITISH EOGENE FLORA.

iS’c/lz'zwacm> are represented by a Lygodz'um allied to the recent L. palmaimn, and identical
with a species from the Eocene Lignitic Series of America. In this Fern the fertile-
fronds have also been met with. A species of Aneimz'a is very abundant and beautifully
preserved at Bournemouth, and is also common to the Eocenes of America and Sézanne,
and possibly Aix-la—Chapelle. The most prevalent form, however, is Osmmzda Zégmz'tum,
which is equally abundant at Bovey-Tracey, and of which 0. Dow/rem} Carr., may
possibly be the stem. Of the other Ferns figured, one, if not two, certainly belongs to
Adimztum ,- and there are others upon which no determination can be hazarded.

The Ferns seem to throw some light upon the physical condition and gradual
depression of the land in the Eocene period. At Bournemouth the lower beds, met with
towards Poole, are supposed to contain a wooded and more or less hillside flora, and
Ferns are there represented only by a climbing Lg/yodium. In the beds further east,
near the Pier, which contain a more luxuriant vegetation, we find the delicate Glez'c/iem'a,
both species of Pfieyopa‘erz's, and Osmzmda. These, I believe, required a warm, moist,
shady situation. We next find the large 0&rysodz'mn, Osmzmda, fifenipfiyllum, and
Piem's, mingled with masses of Aroids, &c., which would require a still more moist
habitat. Finally, in the most eastern and newest beds of the freshwater series, we meet
with masses of Polypodiew, which probably grew at the sea-level in company with a
decidedly swamp vegetation.

Of all the Ferns described, only four were previously known as British, and two of
these were supposed to be from the Miocene. Three were known from the American
Eocene, four from the Aquitanian and Tongrian stages of Western Europe, and one from
Sézanne; the rest are new. In addition to these, there are several other Ferns, which are
too indistinct to be figured.

 

Von Ettingshausen, in his work on Tertiary plants, has found it necessary to invent a
distinct terminology for Ferns.1 His explanation of the types of venation, and the terms
he distinguishes them by, so far as he employs them in the present work, will be useful
here.

“The simplest venation in Ferns is the Hyp/zoptem’s (fig. 1), in which each division
of the frond is traversed by only one vein.

“ When the veins, and consequently also the divisions of the frond, are arranged in a
compact pinnate or pectinate order, then the IIyp/zopz‘erz’s type becomes the Umspedopterz's
(fig. 2). In this case the rachis may be regarded as the midrib or primary vein, and the
midribs as secondary veins. This applies more particularly to the Oraspedopz‘erz's new,
where the secondary veins are mostly connected by parenchyma. When the veins are
disconnected, except at their base, it becomes Graspedopterz‘s 6767205168, eg. Polybotrg/a
Lecfilem'ama, Mett. 5 Ett., ‘ Farnkln,’ Pl. xiii, figs. 5, 6, &c.

1 ‘Die Farnkrauten der Jeztwelt,’ Vienna, 1865.

FERN-TYPES. 23

“ In most Ferns, however, the divisions of the frond are traversed by several or many
veins. When they are forked primary veins, diverging from each other in a radiate
manner, and equal, or the central one more prominent, the venation is Cyclopter-z's (fig. 3).
This is divided into several types, of which I will explain the 0. simplex mqualz's, the 0. sim-
plea} ianualz's, and the 0. composita. In the first the primary veins are symmetrically
disposed, forming only forked branches (ex. Adianlzmz); in the second the primary
veins are nearly all on one side of the division, or unsymmetrically dispersed; and in
the last the primary veins send out secondary ones, as in Lyyodz'zmz.

   

14:16. l.—Hyphopteris. Fm. 2.—Craspedopteris.

“ In all other kinds of venation of Ferns, each ultimate division has only one primary
vein (the midrib or costa) from which the secondary ones spring, and the latter
frequently give rise to ternary veins.

“ The primary vein rarely reaches the apex of the pinnule in Ncm‘opferz's (fig. 4), but
disappears in anumber of forked branches, and the secondary veins are given oil from it at
very sharp angles, diverging in curves towards the margin, so that their marginal branches
constantly form more obtuse angles with the primary vein than their stems. Among the

   

FIG. 3.——Cyclopteris. FIG. 4.——Neur0pteris.

types of this kind of venation we notice the Neurcyafw'z's new; here the midrib is
invariably dissolved, and usually at an appreciable distance from the apex, and the
dichotomously branched secondary veins diverge very much. In N. acrosiic/tacea the
primary vein is prolonged almost close to the apex, or even reaches it; and the
secondary veins are only once or twice forked, and are less divergent (cw. Plerz's eocwm‘ca,

850.).

21 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

“ This last type comes near that of Zhnioptem's (fig. 7), in which, however, the midrib
is very much elongated, the secondary veins exceedingly numerous, given off at right, or
not very acute angles, and never divergent, but either convergent (towards the midrib)
or rectilineal.

“ In the Alefliopierz's type (fig. 5) the midrib is slender, and gives of? short rectilineal or
slightly convergently curved secondary veins at acute angles ; ternary veins are wanting,
or only proceed from the lowest secondary ones, and only on one side (of the pinnule).

   

FIG. 5,—A1ethopteris. FIG. 6.—Pecopteris.

“ In the Pecopz‘erz's type (fig. 6) the undivided or forked secondary veins spring from
the midrib, which is distinctly continued to the apex, at slightly acute angles, and send
out ternary veins (em. Glez'cizlerzz'a Ham‘onerzsz’s and Osmanda Zsz'z‘zmz).

“ Whereas in the foregoing types of venation all the veins are free, in the following
some or all of them anastomose with each other. Those of the Goniopiem's type (fig. 8) all
anastomose, or at least the inner ternary veins, and remain undivided. The two
anastomosing veins blend in one called the ray, which runs through in the Gom'optem's-

   

FIG. 7.—Tzeniopteris. FIG. 8.—~Goniopteris.

Axpz'dzz' type, that is to say, it extends to the point of union of the next pair, whilst in
the Gorzz'opzterz's JIcm'scz'z' type (P/zeyopieris prce-cuspidam ,- Pl. IV, fig. 9) they terminate
before reaching the union. All the ternary veins are united in the latter type, but in
that of G. Aspidiz' (P/teyopterz‘s Bunéurii, Pl. V) some of them are free.

“ When the ternary veins form a network in which there is a row of larger meshes
on either side of the midrib or secondary veins, we have the Dz'cfyopteris type. In this
either all the veins are connected in a network (D. simplex), or the secondary ones are

FERN TYPES. 25

looped, curved, or marginal, and only the ternary one netted (D. composiz‘a). The
secondary and ternary veins are remarkably shortened in the former, and scarcely, or
not distinctly, separated from each other. The meshes of the network enclose free
venules or not, and are accordingly D. appendiculam or .D. emappendz'culata (C/lrysodz'um
Lanzcemmm).

“Finally, there are the P/eZeZlodium (fig. 9) and Drynarz'a (fig. 10) types of venation
belonging to the group with anastomosing veins. In the former the very much abbreviated
secondary veins form, by a peculiar anastomosis of their forked branches, a prominent row of
larger long meshes on each side of the midrib, and several rows of loops. In the Drynarz'a
type the anastomosing ternary veins are given off in a pinnate manner from both sides of

   

FIG. 9.—Phlebodium. FIG. 10.—Drynaria.

the elongated secondary ones, which are strongly curved or looped. The rays or appendages
within the ternary meshes anastomose in such a manner as to form a network resembling
the venation of dicotyledonous leaves. The meshes usually enclose free venules. When
the ternary segments are regularly rhomboid or elongated, it is the Dry/”aria regularz's
type ; when these segments are indistinctly outlined and of irregular shape, they belong
to the D. irreyularz's type (Glossac/zlamys transmuians, Pl. 111, fig. 3), and when the
secondary veins form neither curves nor loops, but terminate in the margin, combining
with the marginal ones, they compose the Drynarz'a composite type, a type at present
confined to the fossil genus Mem'p/Lyllum.”

CRYPTOGAMZE.

ORDER.—FILICES.
SUB~0RDER.—POLYPODIACEAE.

(A.) Acrostic/lama.

CHRYSODIUM LANZ/EANUM (Vz’sz‘am’). Plate I and Plate II, figs. 1—4.

FORTISIA LANZZEANA, Visiani. Piante fossilidella Dalmazia, p. 1], pl. 1, fig. 8; pl. 2,
figs. 1 and 5.

0/}. fronde coriacea pinnata, 396727228 [5272090141128 216! oélonyo-Zanceolatz's, acuminaiz’s,
margine undulatis veZ iniegerrimz's, 6a8i SQSSiZidus, mediz's et z'wferiorz'bus 86mi-amplewi-
caulibus, subdecurrentz'bus, superioriém atienuatz's; nervatione Diciyoptem'dz's simplici8
ewappendiculaz‘ce; nerve primario pervalido, mfldo, promineate ; nerm's'secundam'z'8 anyulz's
acutis variis egredz'entiéus, coageszfz's, a66reviatz'8, dictyodmmz's; macuiz's oblongis, promi-
nentz'bus, plum'é‘em'atis.

Lower Bagshot, Studland ; Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth; Upper Eocene, Hordwell.

The remains are those of a large Fern closely allied to the existing Wide-spread
tropical Cfirysodz'um vulgare, Fée. The thick carbonised substance of the frond figured
in P1. I indicates its former coriaceous texture. The pinnae are lanceolate, and are
so closely seated on the rachis, which is 8 mm. in diameter, that their margins overlap.
They seem to have varied in the form of the base from cuneate to semi-amplexicaul,
according to their position on the rachis, and to the size and development of the frond :
thus, those represented in P1. I have a broadly amplexicaul, almost decurrent base, and
are from the middle of a frond; whilst in P1. 11, fig. 2, a pinna is seen with an almost
acute base, and is therefore supposed to have been derived from the upper part of
a frond. A somewhat similar variation, but in a much less degree, is seen in the bases
of the pinnae of 0/1. quare, which are, however, never amplexicaul, but always stipitate.
The apex is pointed; the margin undulate. In venation it also approaches 0/1,. vulgare,
differing slightly only in the greater divergence of the angles at which the secondary
veins start, and in the greater diversity of form presented by the meshes of the network.

EOCENE FERNS.

Numerous short, contiguous, intricately anastomosing, fine veins
proceed from a prominent midrib, at angles more acute on the
less developed pinnae towards the apex of the frond (Pl. II,
fig. 2), than those of the middle and base. The limits of the
divergence observed in the angles are 20° and 60°. The short
secondary veins are as close together as in Ola. Mtg/are. In
length and shape the meshes vary from rectangular to narrow-
lanceolate or linear; sometimes, as Pl. II, fig. 4, from Studland,
not anastomosing throughout their entire length. In 0%. vuéyare
the range of variation, in this as in other respects, is more circum-
scribed.

The fossil, while closely resembling the recent Clt. vulgare,
seems to have been more variable in its growth, and differed
principally in the more amplexicaul attachment of the pinnae.

C/lrysodz'um Lanzaeanum was described in 1858 by Visiani
from the Eocene of Monte Promina as Partisan, a genus which he
founded for this and a closely allied species. In 1877 Saporta
announced the discovery of a Ctrysodz'um from the Aquitanian
beds of Manosque in Provence 9—“ Je ne puis m’empécher de
signaler * * * un tres beau C/lrysodz’um, genre d’acrostichées,
dont une espcce encore inédite, recueillie aux environs de
Manosque, se rattache directement aux formes les plus nettement
tropicales.” This Clarysodz'um from Manosque, of which nume-
rous pinnae are preserved on the surface of a large slab, is nearly
allied, Saporta informs me, like the Bournemouth plant, to 6%.
malyare ; but the pinnm are narrower, more lanceolate, and with a
more acute and attenuated apex, and the whole plant appears to
have been more slender; resembling in these respects the
Hordwell specimens. He therefore thinks that the two can
hardly be identified as a single species. It is remarkable that it
was there associated with Lasz‘m’a Stirz'aca, Osmuna'a Zzym'ium,
and Lygodium Gaudim‘, as at Bournemouth and Bovey-Tracey,
and that with these also occur at Manosque species of Pteris allied
to those of Bournemouth, Pterz's pennwformis and P. urop/aylla,
the latter only a variety of P. (E’m'nyensz's. There is thus seen
to be a considerable resemblance in the Ferns from the two
localities, which are supposed to differ in age sufficiently to
account for the slightly varying specific characters. Remains of

1 ‘La Nature, Revue des Sciences,’ 5 année, No. 224, p. 245, 15th
September, 1877.

 

27

5

FIG. 11.—Chrysodium vulgare.

28 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

Okrysodz'um have quite recently been met with by Saporta in the Gypsum of Aix, from
which more than 300 forms of plants have been collected. This undescribed species has
been minutely compared by Saporta with specimens of the Bournemouth Clarysoa’z‘um,
and he pronounces them to be specifically the same, although the Aix specimens are
somewhat smaller. The venation is shown by Saporta’s drawings to be identical.

The distribution of 05. Lanzcecmum is consequently extended in Europe to the Middle
Eocene of Monte‘Promina, the Upper Eocene of Aix, and possibly to the Aquitanian of
Manosque. The fossil species appears, therefore, to have had a wide range like the
existing one; a fact in accordance with its exceptional range and abundance in the
English Eocenes.

The presence of Clarysccz'mn in Europe so late as the Middle Tertiary period has thus
been ascertained by numerous specimens, most of them of very recent date.

Saporta and Heer have also detected a resemblance in the Eocene species to Gymna-
gramma Gardnerz', Lesquereux;1 indeed, Saporta had suggested this affinity2 to Les-
quereux during the publication of his work. Lesquereux, however, informs me, after
comparing the specimens which I forwarded to him, that, although a considerable
correspondence exists, the venation in his species is much looser, and the midrib is of a
different type. With reference to Lesquereux’s determination of the American species as a
Gymnqgmmma, Heer thinks it still doubtful, until fructification shall have been found,
whether all the species belong to that genus (Dictyogmmma, Fee), or to Clarysodz'um.

C/wysodz'um Lanzwanum is locally abundant, ranging from the Lower Bagshot through
the Bournemouth Beds, and is met with in the marine beds overlying them, and at
Hordwell. It is exceedingly common in beds on both sides of Bournemouth Pier, and
scarcely less so in the widely separated beds at Studland.

De-la-Harpe mentions a small fragment in Prestwitch’s Collection, and to which he
doubtfully attached the name Acrostic/mm, as having been obtained at Alum Bay; but
its occurrence there has not since been confirmed. Usually only torn, twisted, and
detached fragments are met with ; and the specimen figured in Pl. I, from a bed of
black clay under the Coastguard Station at Bournemouth, is the only one in which the
pinnae have been found attached. No traces of fructification have yet been detected.
Carruthers, being present when the larger specimen was found, immediately recognised
its affinity to C’llrysodz'um vulgare. This alliance has also been admitted by Hooker and
other English botanists who have seen it, so that the correctness of the determination,
due in the first instance to Carruthers, is unquestionable.

The specimens figured, Pl. II, figs. 3, 3a, 4, are from Studland ; Pl. II, figs. 1, 1a,
2, 2a, and P1. I, are from Bournemouth. In the former the secondary veins are more

closely set.
1 ‘ Tertiary Flora of America,’ p. 58, pl. 4, fig. 2.
2 Op. cit., p. 58.

EOCENE FERNS. 29

(B) Pogypodiew.
Gen.—P0D0L0MA, Eli.

Zr’z'lz'ces Itcréaccw, framie 82722121601, integral; sporanyz'a flervis imposita, in 807‘08 sub-
rozfzmdos {mamas indwsz'o 7224110 oéfectos collecz‘a. Nervatio P/zlebodz'z' irreyularis.

PODOLOMA POLYPODIOIDES, Elf. and Gard. Plate III, figs. 4, 5, 6, and 9.

P. frantic suémemérmzacea, [anceolata vel Zineari—Zanceolata, integerm'ma, utrz'nque
anyustata; nervatz'one P/rlebodiz' irregularis; nervo primario r/zac/zz'dromo, redo, promi-
nente, apicem versus sensim az‘tenuato, nervz's sccmdam'z‘s sub anyuh's 55—650 orientiéus
broc/lz'dodromis; maculz's rizcdz'am's vim disiz'ncz‘z's, ianualz'bus; Zaguez's P/zlebodz'i semi-
cllz'pzfz'cis, inaqualz'éus; maculz's Zaiemlz'bus irregularibus mirmtz's, 1—3 seriatis; appen-
dices mumerosos tenm'ssz'mos mmosas includemibus.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

This genus and the next approach the Dictyopz‘em'dew of the older floras and certain
recent tropical species of Polypodz'um belonging to the sub-genus P/lyma-
todes, namely, 1’. Zycwodioides, P. persicariwfolz'um, P. salicz'folium, P.
transparens, and P. ficmz‘oniiz'deum. The leaves may be distinguished from
dicotyledons, notwithstanding their superficial resemblance, as, independently
of the remains of spore-cases, they possess the peculiar venation of this
section of Polg/podz'um. I

The frond represented in P1. III, fig. 9, offers points of agreement in .
form, texture, and venation, with the barren frond 0f the recent Poly/podium
@copodioides. The fossil presents the Phlebodium type of venation, modified ’q
by a less uniform shape and by the inequality of the meshes abutting on ,'
the midrib, which hardly differ from the rest. The Phlebodium loops are '9
irregularly arranged and of unequal length and breadth. The two to three
rows of marginal meshes, instead of being elliptical, are irregularly angular,
and filled with numerous free and anastomosing venules (Pl. III, fig. 5).
These differences are the bases of a new type, deviating essentially from the ‘
Phlebodium appendiculatum to which P. Zycopodioides belongs, and is called i!
Phlebodium irregulare. Figs. 4 and 9 are of natural size, and show theF‘G'plofl'igfi’gsfyC0‘
general form and average size of the pinnae. Fig. 5, which is the base of a pinna enlarged,
accurately shows the venation in detail, and, in three places, what appear to be sori in
an early stage of development, around which the arrangement of meshes is peculiar.

 

30 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

Fig. 6 is another fragment, further enlarged, showing small spherical markings, which.
require further elucidation.

PODOLOMA AFFINE, Ett. and Gard. Plate III, figs. 7, 8.

P. fronde membranacea, Zaneeolata integerm'ma; nervatione P/rZeéodz'i irregularis ;
nervo primario rfiac/iidromo, recto, promincm‘e, apicem versus sensim attenuate ; aervz's
secma’arz'z's sub anyuh's 30—45° orientibus flewuosz's Moe/aidodromz's, maculz's mediam's 92075
dz'stz'nctz's, Zagueis P/zlcéodz'z' irregulariéus, ianualiéus; maculis Zaiemlz'éus ianualz'éus,
1—2 serialis, appendices numerosos tenuissimos mmosos includentz'éus.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

This is of a more delicate and membranous texture than the preceding, a distinguishing
character in itself. In addition the secondary veins diverge at a more acute angle, are
slightly sinuous, of unequal length, and at different distances apart. The median meshes
which characterise the Phlebodium venation, discernible in the preceding species, are not
perceptible in this, but in the magnified figure (Pl. III, fig. 8) a number of very
irregular meshes are seen abutting on the midrib and taking the place of these median
meshes. The Phlebodium loops, as well as all the meshes, are very irregular and unequal
in form and size. The dots, visible Without a lens, are evidently the bases of attachment
of sori.

These two forms of Polypodieae are found massed together in layers in the highest
freshwater beds, immediately underlying the marine beds. Dicotyledonous leaves seldom
accompany them, but they are generally associated with torn fragments of aroicls, rushes,
and conifers, and occasionally with remains of other ferns, as Osmunda, Piem's, and
Cfirysodium. The venation is usually well preserved and distinct, but the pinnules are
always detached and the fructification removed, as if by maceration. The separating
layers are so thin and brittle, and the leaves so crowded together, that it is extremely
difficult to secure good specimens. The recent Polypodz'a with which they have been
compared have long creeping rhizomes, with simple and persistent fronds, not articu-
lated; but the fact that in the fossils the pinnules are invariably detached and in layers
suggests that they belonged to annual ferns with articulated pinnae. Their geological
position and the leaves associated with them suggest that they inhabited swampy districts
near the sea-shore.

Saporta, in a letter full of valuable comments, points out the resemblance which
Podoloma bears to the dicotyledonous flfyrsinida, Sapotaceae, and the genus Bumelz'a.
The venation, however, seems to differ more from any of these than from that of some
existing Ferns. The existence of sori, besides, seems placed beyond doubt. Ileer also

EOCENE FERNS. 31

pronounces a decided opinion that they belong to the division of Pain/0002222222 with
reticulate venation, and does not think that they should be generically separated unless
.as Poéypoa’z'tes. Hooker, Carruthers, and others see no reason to create a new genus for
their reception. The correctness of our determination of these as Ferns may, we think,
be considered as beyond reasonable doubt.

N0 fossil Polypodz'a with reticulate venation resembling these had hitherto been
described.

GLOSSOCHLAMYS, Ett.

F2'Z2'ces nerbacece, froncZe simplici, integral. Nervatio Drynaria? irregularis.

GLOSSOCHLAMYS TRANSMUTANS. Ett. and Gard. Plate III, fig. 3.

G. fronde 822622262226ra22acea, petiolaia, lanceolaz‘a, ntrz'nqne‘ anynsz‘ata, 5219206 longe-
acnmz'nazfa, margine integerrz'ma ; nervatz'one Drynariw irregularis, nervo primario Machi-
n’romo, recio,pr02222'nente, apicem ver8n8 8en82'2/2 attennafo ; nerv2'8 secnndarz'is pronzz'nenzfiéns
camplodromis adscendentibns, 222661228 8226 anynh's 40~50°, relignz's 8226 anynlis mtioribns
rorienzfiéns; nervz'8 tertiarz'z's catadromis; latere externo angnlo sunrecto, latere inferno
nlernrngne anynlz's var2'2'8 eyredz'enlz'bns ; segrneniz's tertiarz'is 02.22 d2'82‘2'n022'8, iannalidns,
2'2‘regnlar2'6n8, polygonatm ; 22222022128 appendicw [2162722229226 Ziberos includentiéns.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

The texture of this frond was membranous. The apex is very elongated and narrow.
The venation is somewhat like that met with in certain species of Polypodz'nm, as, for
example, Pnymatodes nemionitidenm and P. tranérparens, and in some species of /18,222'a72'22222,~
as A. t2'2'folz'a2‘n2n, A. macrop/zyllnm, A. pacfiypnyllnm. It deviates, however, in some
essential particulars. The secondary veins are not sinuous, but run towards the apex
of the frond in long curves, close to and sub-parallel with the margin. Their angles of
departure are more acute at apex and base than in the middle of the frond, and in this.
respect the resemblance to dicotyledonous venation is great. The remaining characters
of the venation are of the Drynaria irregularis type. In the catadromous loops of
the ternary veins it approaches the above species of Aspidinm. The species is! founded
upon peculiarities of venation, which Consist in the ternary diverging from the outer
side of the secondary veins at right angles, and from their inner side at varying acute
and obtuse angles, and also in their relatively incOnspicuous ternary segments, in
proportion to the meshes and venules that are enclosed in them.

32 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

Saporta objects to the reference of this fossil to a Fern, as he considers the venation to
be quite unlike that of any Fern, and to belong to a type common among dicotyledons.
Heer also states that, in his opinion, “it is not a Fern, but a leaf of a Dicotyledon.” It
is found associated With Podoloma.

(c) P2672226w.

PTERIS EOCzENICA, 1222‘. and G22722. Plate IV, figs. 4—45.

P. f7072226 722227222222, [92722228 722220222 227202220 [2672202220 272867228, 8688222228 22222226 62072g62228,
2227206022220-2272622726228, 00227222220228, 22282 06229228, 72222702726 26222228827726 867722222228; 7267022220226
N62270p26722228 a07'0822022d0669, 7267220 107222222720 17702227267226, 76020, 2272266222 22678228 867282722
2222672222220 ,- 7267028 86022722227228 8225 2272022228 40—450O 072672226228, 1'5 7222222722. 272267 86 2282227222628,
62- 2262 2727227022228, 7222728827226 82772j922025228, 72272228 272207 86 12022722226228, 022722 726700 1227272221720
2272022222722 8226760222722f077222272226228.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

This species is characterised by its long, narrrow pinnae, which quit the rachis at
angles of about 25°. Towards the apex of the frond they are sometimes confluent,
decurrent below on the rachis, as in P1. IV, figs. 4 and 5, and apparently petiolated
towards the base. The terminal pinna is the largest. The margins of the pinnm are
sinuous or alternately lobed, and very finely toothed. The midrib is prominent and
elongated. The secondary veins are numerous and crowded, spring at acute angles,
curve outwards to the margin, and terminate in the teeth, the majority of them being
once, some twice forked, and a very few undivided. The venation is of the type of
Neuropteris acrostichacea, which is not uncommon in recent and fossil species of P267282

P. 60042722022 resembles very closely a number of living species of P223728, as P. 0767222222,
P. 07622002, 820. It also resembles the Aquitanian species, P. 1067272wf0772228, Heer,1 but
may be distinguished by the secondary veins, which are less crowded and more generally
forked, and by the margin, which is lobed and toothed in a much more pronounced
manner. 'It even more closely resembles P. P07802222y2227222, Unger, and P. 02222222722, Heer,
but differs from the former in the much more acute angle at which the pinnae leave the
rachis, Whilst the latter, founded upon a single and very small fragment, has no specific
character, and is possibly, as suggested by Heer himself} a fragment of P. pcn722ef0772228.
The American Eocene3 species P. 82268272212263: and P. 070822, while possessing the same»

1 ‘ Flor. Tert. Helv.’ vol. i, p. 38, pl. xii, fig. 1.
2 ‘ Flor. Ter. Helv.,’ vol. i, p. 39.
3 Lesq., ‘ Tert. flora of America,’ 1878, p1. iv, pp. 52, 53.

EOCENE FERNS. 33

venation, have much broader pinnae, and P. pseudopemwformz's has more closely and
obliquely set secondary veins. Blecfimmz Brazmz'z', Ett., from Monte Promina, has similar
venation and finely toothed margin; and Dr. Debey informs me that he
has Ferns from Aix-la-Chapelle with a nearly related venation. Heer believes
it bears a resemblance to Pecopiem's [foo/item; from Bovey Tracey. Osmunda
eoccem'ca, Saporta,l from Gelinden, strikingly resembles it, but seems to have
been a larger Fern, and is considered distinct by Saporta.

Pterz's eocem'ca is abundant at Bournemouth in the “ fern-beds,” where
it is associated with the Polypodieae. It becomes rarer westward, having
but once been met with west of the pier, and then only in the highest and
remanié beds near the top of the cliff, immediately under the flagstaff. The
specimen from this locality (Pl. IV, fig. 5) is dwarfed and attenuated. The
abundance of this Fern in the newest and most easterly beds of the Bourne-
mouth freshwater series, where it is associated with plants which required
much moisture, its rarity in the slightly older beds to the west, which have
a less swampy character, its dwarfed and starved appearance in the uppermost
beds west of the pier, and its complete absence from all the lower beds in
which, with few exceptions, the dicotyledons have been obtained, point to its
habitat having been, by preference, of a swampy and marshy character, and
near the sea-level. Saporta informs me that at Manosque the closely
allied P. pennwformis is, like this, found associated with C/lrysodz'zmz
Lanzaecmum and Osmzmda layizitum.

I am indebted to Mr. A. Baldry, of Bournemouth, for the specimen, fig. 5,
Pl. IV, which we at first thought to be distinct, as the pinnae are smaller and
narrower, and the secondary veins more widely separated and less diverging.
Fig. 6 (Pl. IV) represents a terminal pinna, natural size; fig. 4, the lower
part of a frond; fig. 6 a. enlarged venation.

 

FIG. 13.—Pteris
crenata.

Although species of Acrosficlmm, Anyz'opteris, Gymnoymyimm, &c., possess similar
venation, the characters furnished by this form so closely correspond to what is met with
in the recent species of Pterz's, that its reference to this genus cannot be doubted.

PTERIS BOURNENSIS, Eli. and Gard. Plate IV, fig. 7.

P. fronde Minimalia, [96727225128 superioriéus anyalo aculo, reliqm's angulo suérecz‘o Mac/Ii .
adflatz'8, 56:85 [am 86882765358, lanceolatz's, acumz'naiz's, magma irtferyerrz'ma veZ lender
undulata ,- ”mealtime Aleflzoplem'dz'8 genuinae ; 7287-00 primario 61051712, r6010, infra apicem
wide attenuato, 726¢vi8 secundarz'z's sub aflyulis acuiz's orientibm.

1 ‘ Flore Heersienne do Gelinden,’ Saporta and Marion, 1878, pl. i, fig. 1.

34 , BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

The specimen figured is apparently of delicate texture, and may be either the apex
of a barren frond or the fragment of a pinna. The pinnules are lanceolate and gradually
attenuated towards the apex, entire or slightly undulate, broadest at the base, and con-
fluent. The uppermost pinnules are attached at acute, and the others at about right
angles. The midrib is thin and tapering; the secondary veins,'ten or twelve in number
on each side, spring at angles of 50°—60°, and are mostly forked. The venation is of
the true Alethopteris type. The apparently thin texture may be due to the long
maceration to which the leaf has evidently been subjected.

The specimen so closely resembles the figures of P. di‘ningensz's, Unger,1 that, judging
from them alone, it might be placed with it. That species, however, is of a more
coriaceous texture, and appears only towards the second part of the Miocene. In
connection with it Saporta has kindly communicated that he considers P. Uim'nyensz's,
which appeared late in the Miocene, to be the forerunner of P. aquilz'na, and that the
Miocene form was preceded by P. umpfiylla, and this by P. Aquensz's and P. caudzyera
of the Aix beds. The type of P. aquilz'na is probably very ancient, and may reasonably
be looked for in formations as old as the Lower Eocene. Debey thinks he has a similar
type from Aix-la-Chapelle.

This Fern, which differs essentially from the P. eocwm‘ca, is known from a single
fragment only, met with among dicotyledons in a leaf-bed on the coast near Poole
Harbour. Fig. 7 is drawn the natural size; 7 a shows a portion magnified.

The determination of this as Pterz's is not absolutely certain in the absence of
fructification, as the venation is common to many Ferns.

(D) Awlemece.
ASPLENITES PRJE-ALLOSUROIDES. 1%. and Gard. Plate III, figs. 1, 2.

Afronde memémnacea, triflnnala. 3967272219 bg'pz'matz's patentiéus, 12967272251229 stzjn'tatz's,
ellipticz's, subobmsis, tenm'ssz'me crenulatz's, saris oblong/L's, discrialz‘éus; nervatz'one Oms-
pedopteris vem, nervo primam'o tenm', infra apice evanescente, newts secmdariz's team's-
sz'mz's, simpliciéus.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth. .
The specimen appears to be the remains of a fertile frond, and recalls a somewhat

1 Heer, ‘ Flor. Tert. der Schweiz,’ vol. i, p. 39, pl. xii, fig. 5.

EOCENE FERNS. 35

similar form, Asclem'tes allosm'oz'des, described by Unger,l from Eocene beds with Ceri-
t/az'um mmyarimcemn. The frond seems tripinnate, the pinnae spreading, and the very
small pinnules shortly stipitate, elliptical, and sub-obtuse at both ends. The margin has
three to five teeth. The secondary veins quit the midrib at angles of 40°—50°, are
simple, and terminate in the teeth, being therefore of the Craspedopteris vera type.
The enlargement (Pl. III, fig. 1) is after a drawing by Carruthers, who kindly assisted in
the elucidation of the specimen, which is very obscure indeed. The pinnules were of
great substance, and the leaf has therefore carbonised and broken away. The rachis is
zigzag.

Stur has kindly remarked upon the strong resemblance borne to our species by
A. allosuro-ides. Unfortunately this was also determined upon a specimen in which
the details were badly preserved, inasmuch as the carbonised leaf-substance from the
same cause has almost entirely dropped out, and only the impression remains. It differs
from A. prw-aZZosuroz'des in size, it being nearly double, and in the more rotundately
elliptical pinnules, and as far as can be seen in their less symmetrical arrangement on the
frond.

It, as well as A. alloswoides, closely resembles Pierz's fictcropfiylla, Linn., which has
coriaceous pinnules of exactly the same form, but larger. In this respect the Sotzka
species connects the two. The recent Ptcm's scaéemla has the pinnules as finely divided
as the Bournemouth form.

It does not bear any close resemblance to existing species of Pellwa or Asplem'um;
but Gymzogmmma Zeptop/aylla slightly resembles it. Its determination is exceedingly
doubtful. Heer is of opinion that it is the fertile frond of a species of T/oyrsopiem's.’
It may, should better specimens be found, be necessary to unite our species to Unger’s ;
and this seems the more probable as a great number of Sotzka plants are associated
with it at Bournemouth.

The specimen, which is unique, was found some years ago at Bournemouth, under the
Coast-Guard Station, by Mr. W. S. Mitchell and Henry Keeping, and is now in the
British Museum.

(E) Aspidieae.
Gen.—MENIPHYLLUM, Eat.
Filices fierbacew, fronde ,m'mzam, nervatz'o Drynam'ce composite.

This genus is allied to Meniscz'um in its marginal secondary and short ternary veins,

1 ‘ Fossil Flora of Sotzka,’ l. c., p. 25, pl. i, fig. 1.
2 ‘ Flor. Foss. Arctica,’ iv, pl. x; Jurassic flora of Siberia.

36’

BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

but it is distinguished from this and from Drynaria by the anastomosing of the ternary
veins and presence of free venules in the meshes. In the combination of marginal and
netted venation, it presents a special type of the Drynaria group, which has never been
observed in recent Ferns.

 

FIG. l4.——Meniscium lon'
gifolium.

Branksome Watch
willow-like leaves.

MENIPHYLLUM ELEGANS, Err. and Gard. Pl. III, figs. 10—14.

M pinnis suécoriaceis, stz'pz'tatz's, lanceolaiz's, apicem versus acu-
mz'naz‘z's, dasz' acuta Magda/[Mus vel oéliqm's, margine inteyewz'mis ;
nervo primario valido prominente, scape arcuaz‘o velflexuoso, nervz's
secema’arz'z's sub (myulz's 75—900 orientiéus, numerosis, approximatis,
flewuosis ; nervz's z‘ertiariz's angulz's acutz's, mm'us oétusz's e nervis
secmzciam'z's eyredz'entz'bus, aéér'eviatis, flewuosis; macuZz's 0610mm-
eZZz‘pZz'cz's, appendices Ziéeros includerztiéus.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

At first sight these remains appear to belong to Meniscz'um, but
although the shape of the pinnae and the arrangement of the
secondary veins point to this affinity, the venation itself is opposed
to it ; for, whilst Meniscz’um has the Goniopteris, this has the Drynaria
type. Pl. III, fig. 13, shows the venation magnified. The fronds
were pinnate and probably coriaceous in texture. The pinnae are
shortly stipitate, the stalk passing into the mid-rib, which is curved
or sinuous. The secondary veins are given off at rather obtuse,
often almost right angles, and are numerous and closely set, thicker
and less sinuous, and usually alternate with more slender and sinuous
secondary veins. All extend to the margin, where they are either
forked or remain undivided. The ternary veins form various acute
and more rarely obtuse angles, are mostly very short and sinuous
and anastomose more frequently with the neighbouring secondary
veins than together. The meshes are of irregular oblong and
elliptical shape, and contain branched free venules.

The pinnae represented (P1. III, figs. 10, 11, 12) were found at
Bournemouth in the beds near the top of the cliff east of the Pier,
associated with aro'ids, palms, and conifers. It is sometimes found
with Podoloma. Fig. 14 is from a solitary specimen found under
Tower, towards Poole Harbour, associated with small oak- and

The pinna seems to have been slightly shrivelled at the margin

before it was imbedded, and hence the lateral marginal vein is hardly discernible.

EOCENE FERNS. 37

This determination should be received at present with some hesitation, since we know
90f no existing Fern possessing crowded secondary veins and free venules, and the venation
on the other hand resembles that of certain dicotyledons.1

PHEGOPTERIS PRtE-CUSPIDATA, Eli. and Gard. Plate IV, figs. 8, 9.

P/a. frondepz'nnata, pinnis lanceolato-Zineariéus, eloayaz‘z's, cremato-sermtz's ; nervatz'one
Goniopteridz's Mem'sciz', nervo primario procaine/Me, recto; nervz's secundariis sud anyzdz's
60—7 5° orientibus, nmnerosz's, tenm'éus, sifiqylz'cibus,flewuosis; nervz's tertiam'z's um'ngue
4—6 6 dermis secundarz'z's angular acutz'oribus eyredz'em‘z'éus, anastomosantiéus, caiadromz's ;
radiis interruptis vel obliteratis. '

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

The pinnm are linear-lanceolate, obtusely serrate, with the venation of Goniopteris, in
which all the ternary veins anastomose. It is referred to the Goniopteris Meniscii type,
because the rays are interrupted and not continuous. It is probably a P/zegopz‘em's, and,
indeed, differs only from P. cuslm'dam, Mett., in the following unimportant particulars:
the marginal teeth are rather more obtuse or crenate ; the midrib is prominent yet
less thick; the secondary veins are sinuous instead of only curved upwards near the
margin, less close, and at more acute angles; the lower ternary veins have a distinctly
catadromous origin ; the ramifications are usually very short, interrupted or abortive
instead of always present. Its similarity to Gymnoymmma villcsa of Brazil is also
striking. ,

There are also certain resemblances between this and the Miocene forms Pfleyopteris
Hclvelica (Lastrcea), Heer,” Pit.1’00]y]70di0id€8,3 and Pit. Stiriacaf also abundant at Bovey
Tracey.

Heer would unite it with P/z. Bzmémyz' next described, considering it to be a fertile
rond of that species ; but although the venation in the only Bournemouth specimen is so
indistinct that I am not inclined to attach too much importance to it, yet it hardly seems
to justify the union. Pending the discovery of better specimens, I think they must be
considered distinct.

The portion of a fertile frond figured is unique, and was obtained at Bournemouth,
together with a magnificent series of dicotyledonous leaves of large size and palms, from '
one of the lower beds under the Coast-Guard Station, and therefore may be presumed from
its surroundings to have had a shady forest habitat, and to have required a high
temperature. I

1 Saporta has pointed out that the venation is not very dissimilar to that of the dicotyledonous genus
Andromeda, sub-genus Leucotkb'e.

2 ‘ Flor. tert. der Schweitz.,’ pl. vi, fig. 2, pl. cxliii, figs. 2—5.

3 Ett., ‘ Monte Promina,’ pl. ii, figs. 1—4; Heer, loc. cit., pl. cxliv, figs. 1—3.

4 Ung., ‘Chlor. Prol.,’ pl. xxxvi, Heer, loc. cit., pls. vii, viiii.

38

BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

PHEGOPTERIS BUNBURII, Hear. Plates V and X.

  
   

 

~5 ‘2 I

3%
f‘

{if

2’:
K;

tax .
ii‘éA 4

    
   

\ :4

\j ‘i ‘
Cu
'\
I

\:

1.../.’"*-.!‘7v,'”'

(I lL" (71'1" 9,1,,
<7 . K
./ ii?“ I /
I I!

{F
’\

. l

4 l‘ 1{
.NB
\

WK

,1
K1“

FIG. l5.——Phegopteris 'cus-

pidata.

I
\

f§~3\ _

;.\:\§

MM ‘:

LASTREA BUNBURII, Hear. Flora of Bovey Tracey, p. 28, pl. xii, fig. 1 6.

P74. frona’e pinnata, picnic creve pctz'olatz’s, lanceolatz's, basz'
acutis, apicem versus anywstatz's, serratis, margins) arguta ; ”erect--
tione Goniopteridz's Aspidii ; nervo primaria prominente, recto ; nerves
sccundariz's sub angulz's 50-—60O orientiéus, tenuiéus, flewuosz's,
pinnatz's ; nervz's tertiarz'is utm'nque 2—4, sud angulz's acutz's eyredien-
Mus, flewuosz's curvatz'sque ; radiis perviis.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth. .

To Heer we are indebted for pointing out the identity of the
Bournemouth form with that of Bovey Tracey.

In this Fern the fronds were pinnate, the pinnee usually rounded
at the base and probably acuminate at the apex, and with lightly
toothed margin. The pinnae are wide apart towards the base of the
frond and confluent towards the apex. The venation is of the type
of Goniopteris Aspidii. All the ternary veins anastomose among

' ‘ themselves, and the venules proceeding from them are excurrent.

The midrib is not thick, yet several times more prominent than
the secondary veins, which are themselves slender, sinuous, and.
shortly forked at the extremities. The ternary veins are fewer, only
two on each side, they part at a less acute angle than the secondary
ones, and form a sharp curve, which unites them with the next above
of the same order. It rather resembles some existing species of
Agelem'um, sub-genus Dq'plazz'um, chiefly A. expansum and A. Ottonis
of Tropical America. It agrees closely in its characters with P.
diningensz's, Heer,1 which differs from ours only in the stipitate pinnae,
rather closer secondary veins, and in the possession of three or four
ternary veins on each side of the secondary. Stur sees a resemblance
rather to 0877224726164, as 0. Claytom'ana and 0. cinnamomecz.

The specimens were found in the fourth bed of the series, under
the Coast-Guard Station at Bournemouth; and no fragments have

elsewhere been met with, except at Bovey Tracey, where it is also extremely rare. It
appears to have been a slender, graceful plant, growing under the shade of the trees
with whose leaves it is found associated. That figured in Plate V is evidently a young,
perhaps sterile plant. In Plate X is shown a perfect pinna.

1 Loc. cit. p. 32, Pl. VI, fig. 3.

I "a; 19:7 We??? )
EOCENE FERNs_ ~ K\/ 39

'6".

Some difference is apparent between the angles of the venation of the young
pinnae attached to the plant and those drawn on Pl. X, figs. 9, 10, which are more
acute.

The original specimen, which should be preserved in the J ermyn Street Museum, is
not now to be found there; and our identification rests, therefore, partly with Heer, who
states that they are the same.

It would be better, perhaps, that the species should be described under the name of
GONIOPTERIS than under that of PHEGOPTERIS, as at page 38.

GONIOPTERIS STIRIACA (Unyer).

POLYPODITES STIRIACUS, Unger. Chloris Protogaea, p. 121, pl. xxxvi. 1847.
LASTREA STIRIACA, Heer. Flor. Tert. Helv., vol. i, p. 31, p1. vi and vii; vol. iii,
p. 15]. pl. cxliii. 1859.
— HELVETICA, Heer. lbid., p. 33, pl. vi, fig. 2; vol. iii, p. 151, pl. cxliii, figs.
2—5. 1859.
GONIOPTERIS STIRIACA, A. Braun. Zeitschrift Geolog. Gesellsch., vol. iv, p. 556. [852.
—— — Schimper. Pal. Végétale, vol. i, p. 547. 1869.
LASTR/EA STIRIACA, Heer. Flora of Bovey, p. 28, pl. v, figs. 12—15. 1861.
— — Gaudin et Strozzz'. Contributions 2:. la Flore Foss. Italienne, vol. ii,

p. 32, pl. i, fig. 2. 1859.
PHEGOPTERIS STIRIACA, Ettingsh. Flora of Bilin, p. 16, pl. ii, f. 16—18. 1866.

G. frondepimaia, pimzz's Zineariéus, prelongis, inferioribus grosse crenatis serratisve,
superioriéus arguie serratz's veZ serrulaz‘z's ; nervatione Gom'opzferz'dis Aspirin, nervoprimario
valido prominente, recto, nervis secundariz's sub ampulis 50—6 5° orientibus, Ienm'bus, sub-
rectz's velpaullo arcuatis, nervz's tertiarz'z's 672102927268 irgferioribusplemmgue 6—7, in pinnis
superioribus plemmgue 4—5, curvatis, subpamllelz‘s, (myzdo aculo eyredientibus. Son's
rotundatis biserz'atis.

Middle Bagshot, Bovey Tracey.

This Fern has not, we believe, been met with in England elsewhere than at Bovey
Tracey, where it was formerly found in abundance. The pinnae are usually attached to
the rachis, and the sori are frequently preserved. The stems and circinate vernation
placed with Pecopierz's [zym'mm by Heerl belong, in all probability, to this species.2

We have no hesitation in uniting Lastrcea Izelvetz'ca, Heer, with the present species.
The former was first founded upon most imperfect fragments, and separated upon the
supposition that it was more closely and sharply serrated, and possessed fewer ternary
veins. The much more perfect specimen figured in the third volume of the ‘ Flor. Tert.

1 ‘ Flora of Bovey,’ p. 31.
2 See description of Osmunda lz‘gnitum, p. 50.

40 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

Helvet.’ shows that the separation cannot be maintained ; for in the drawings there are
in places seven veins in L. leelveiz'ca to five in L. stiriaca; While comparisons of the
tracings of Heer’s figures,1 here reproduced, show that L. siirz'aca is really the more
strongly toothed. It is impossible, in fact, to compare the figure of L. stim'aca, vol. i,
pl. viii, with that of L. fielvetz'ca, vol. iii. pl. cxliii, fig. 2, without recognising that
the latter is the upper part of the frond of the former. The species was founded upon

a §%

FIG. 16,—L. helvetica. ‘ Flor. Tert. FIG. 17.—L. stiriaca. Ibid., vol. i, FIG. -18.—G. stiriaca (9), ‘Fl. foss. Arct.,’
Helv.,’vol. iii,pl.cxliii, fig. 2(part). pl. viii, fig. 4. pl. xlv, fig. 7'

insufficient material, and should have been annulled when the more perfect specimens
were figured. Specimens of Z}. dalmatica which we have received present in like
manner no distinguishing specific characters, and should not remain separated.

In the ‘ Flora Fossilis Arctica,’ p. 87, pl. le, fig. 7, we find a portion of a pinna
figured under this name from Atanekerdluk, in Greenland. It possesses, however,
according to Heer’s description, only three ternary veins on each side of the pinnule;
while in the description of the Swiss form six to seven were essential to the species, and

 

 

 

FIG. 19.——G. stirz’aca. ‘ Flora of FIG. 20.— G. stim‘aca. Ibid., fig. 13. FIG. 21.—G. slirigca. Enlarged by
Bovey,’ p1. v, fig. 14 (part). Mr. Bitch.

specimens possessing fewer are separated. He therefore seems to modify his specific
characters to include it, and in modifyng them thus, leaves them suffimently open to
1 Figure 16 shows the strongest denticulation present in the drawing of the fine specimen of L. kelve-

tica in the third volume.

EOCENE FERNS. 41

admit several other supposed species. It appears from the figure that the pinna is more
tapering, and therefore shorter, than those of G. stiriaca, and all the veins more sinuous.
The indistinct specimen from Cape Lyell has the exact outline of this species.

0. stim'aca is supposed by Unger and Heer to resemble G.prolz'fem1 “of tropical
America,”2 which Fern, however, it is well known, is a native of all the tropics except that
one. The venation is not uncommon among Ferns, and is met with in Acrosticfium and
Nep/amdz'um, as well as in Gom'opiem's, but the arrangement of the sori is more charac-
teristic of the latter. In the fossil state it has been found in France, Germany, Italy, &c.,
and seems to characterise principally the Middle and Upper Eocenes, and OligOcene.

It appears to have been of much larger growth than 0. Bunéurz’i, and possessed
more numerous and simply curved, instead of sinuous or angulated, veins. The original
specimens are too indistinct to be satisfactorily refignred, and we have, therefore; repro-
duced fig. 19 and part of fig. 20 from pl. v, ‘Flora of Bovey,’ and an unpublished
enlargement (fig. 21) by Mr. Fitch, of Kew, who has placed his original sketches for that
work at our disposal. '

WOODWARDIA fr’ VENOSA, Eli. and Gard. Plate X, fig. 5, 5 a.

W. fronde pinnatcz, Zacim's anyusfe lanceolatz's, margine iyzieyerriwzz's ; nervatione
Dicl‘yopz‘eridis sz'mplz'cz's ewappendz'culafce; nervo primario r6010, prominente, nervis
secundam'z's brevissz'mz's tenm'ssimz's (mguZo acuto eyredz'entz’éus; maculz's Diclyopteridis

_7)Zu7*ise7'iatz's, inequalibus.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

Although but one small and not very distinct fragment has been met with, the
character of the venation is very apparent. The frond may have either been simply
pinnate or bipinnate. There are a number of species of Ptem's, as P. patens, P. decurrens,
P. denticulata, P. Woodwardz'oia’es, &c., with anastomosing venation and closely similar;
we cannot, therefore, be certain that it is really a Woodwardz'a.

We have, however, placed it in that genus, because a very beautiful and undoubted
species of Woodwardz'a has been met with in the Eocene of Monte Promina, &c., and
the Aquitanian stage of Switzerland. This form, W. Roessnerz'ana, Unger, resembles
W. radicans, and differs from ours in the possession of a row of free veins between the
areolations and the margin. Our species would fall into the group of Lorinserz'a, Presl,
of which W. areolata, a native of the United States, from Massachusetts to Florida, is
the best known, and, with one exception, the only existing type.

1 Ett., ‘ Farnkrauter,’ pl. cix and ex.
2 ‘ Flora of Bovey,’ p. 28.

42 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

ADIANTUM APALOPHYLLUM, Saporta. Plate X, fig. 1, 1 a.

ADIANTUM APALOPHYLLUM, Saporta. Flora of Sézanne, Mem. Soc. Géol. France,
t. viii, p. 313, pl. ii, fig. 1. 1865—1868.

A. pinnulz's oéovatz's suétmpezz'formibus, margine superiors) sinuatz's, nervaiione Cyclo-
pterz'dis simplicis wgualz's; nervz's primariz's icmu'ssz'mis wqualz'bus dicfiotomz's, son's
apical/£12248 subcoMuentz'éus.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

Small Adiantoid pinnae had been met with among the interlaced fronds and stems of
Glez'cfiem'a at Bournemouth (see p. 44), to which we considered they might have belonged,
but, as similar pinnae have since been found unassociated with Glez'cfiem'a and preserving
distinct remains of sori, there is no longer any doubt that a species of Maidenhair, not
much larger than Adianmm capiZZuS-Venem's, formed part of our Middle-Eocene flora.
As we see no reason to consider them distinct specifically from those found by Count
Saporta at Sézanne, which only seem to differ in the absence of sori, we have placed
them, with his concurrence, in that species. The segments seem to be dimidiate, as the
line of fruit is only present on one side. This species differs strikingly from the group
of A. capillus- Venem's in the linear, instead of obversely reniform, arrangement of the
sori.

Detached segments are occasionally met with among dicotyledonous leaves in beds
west of Bournemouth Pier.

HEWARDIA REGIA, Eli. and Gard. Plate II, fig. 5; Plate VII, fig. 2; Plate X, fig. 6;
and Plate XI.

H fronde membranacea simplicz' irregulariter inciso-loéafa, subroizmda, Zonyepetz'olafa,
basi suétrzmcata, Zobis [anceolaiz's inteyewimz's, undulatis vcl subloéatz's, marrying sari/”era's,
son's confluem‘ibus ; nervaflone Dicfyopteridis simplz'cz's, nerm's tenm'ssz'mz's, maculz's
anyustz's lanceolatz's.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

The palmate form, rectangular base, and long stipes show the specimen figured
(Pl. XI, fig. 1) to have been an entire frond, and not a large terminal pinna. So much
of the frond is preserved that little is left to the imagination in restoring it. It was
nearly equal-sided, palmate, somewhat irregular in form, bluntly six-lobed more than
half-way down, each lobe being again once subdivided. It measured six inches

EOCENE FERNS. 43

along the base, which forms almost a right angle with the stipes, and at least four
inches in length. The texture is exceptionally membranous, the sori, where the
lobes overlap each other in places, being distinctly traceable through it; this character
removes it from Plan's, in which genus it might otherwise possibly have been placed.
The stipes was glabrous, rigid, slender, and must have been at least three times longer
than the portion preserved. The veins are very fine and distinct, and anastomose
copiously, but become less conspicuously reticulated towards the margin, as seen in the
enlargements, Pl. X, fig. 6 a ; Pl. XI, fig. 4. The sori form long linear patches upon
both edges, but do not extend to the extremities of the lobes. The specimen, Pl. II,
fig. 5, is probably a small barren frond of the same species. Only the outline is
preserved, which is suborbicular, with margin entire.

The slender stipes, membranous texture, and marginal sori are characters only com-
bined in Adz'antum and Lindsaya. In the latter genus L. sagittata possesses simple
fronds and is not very inferior in size; but it is in the section of Adicmtum with anasto-
mosing veins, Hewardz'a of J. Smith, that we find the nearest resemblance to it. H.
Wilsom', although not possessing perfectly simple fronds, sometimes has its pinnm almost
all united in a single trilobed terminal pinna, approaching the fossil species in dimen-
sions. Even the nearest living species, however, differ very widely from it, and it thus
appears to be one of the few Tertiary Ferns that have become completely extinct. We
are not acquainted with any fossil species with which to compare it.

We had frequently noticed fragments of a very membranous Fern with anastomosing
venation, and two of these had been figured without any clue as to the form of the leaf,
before the magnificent specimen on P1. XI had come to light. Our attention was called
to it by a lady, who found it in a small concretion of white clay near the base of the
black clays, in the leaf-beds nearest to, and on the west side of Bournemouth Pier. The
other fragments were found in the same beds.

(F) Glez'c/zem'acere.
Genu8.—GLEICHENIA.
(Sub-genus.—MERTENSIA.)
GLEICHENIA HANTONENsrs (Wan/sly”). Plate VI and Plate X, figs. 2-, 3, 4«.

MERTENSITES HANTONENSIS and M. CRENATA, Wanklyn. Annals and Magazine of
Natural History, vol. iii, pl. i. 1869.

G.fr0mle yracz‘lz' slzpz'taz‘a die/comma,- siz'pz'te scandenie; cz'rr/zz's addrevim‘z’s uncinatz's;

44 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

TdC/JZ' zfelzuz' ; picnic oélongis ; pinnuh's approximatis patentiéus, Zinearibus vel lanceolato-
051072323, marrying inlegerrimz's vel crenatz's ; apice oétusz's ; nervatione Pecopz‘em'dz's Dem, ;
nervo primario e rec/Li angulo subacul‘o, raring recto ewezmzfe, temm', plus minusveflewuoso ;
nervz's secundariz's cumprimario angular: acm‘osformmztibus, abbreviaiis, catadromz'sjurcafis,
rarius simpliciéus ; nerm's ierzfz‘arz'z's catadromis, arcuatz's, simpliciéus, mm‘us furcatz's,
infimo laterals emferz'om's receptaculum pancflforme emittem‘e. Saris singulariéus eel duoéus
rotufldz's, locatis.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

The stipes and rachis are slender, and are always found associated with the remains of,
and sometimes attached to the pinnules The repeatedly diehotomosing character of the
stem is well seen in the specimen, Pl. VI, fig. 8, in which is also shown one of the young
buds produced at the forking of the larger stipes. The stipites were furnished with short,
hook-like tendrils. Figs. 9 and 10 show these tendrils with remains of the rachis, and
fig. 11 with the attachment to the stipes only. On this piece and at fig. 8 are spirally
rolled buds. The relative position of the tendrils and pinnae is shown on P1. X, fig. 2.
The remains of pinnae, represented in P1. VI, figs. 1, 2, 3, and 7, show them to have
been of an elongated, almost lanceolate shape, bearing linear or lanceolate pinnules of
unequal. length. These are closely set, with crenate or entire margin and rounded apex.
The venation is that of Pecopl‘eris vera. The midribs of the pinnules are sinuous and
relatively slender; they leave the rachis, which is itself slightly flexuous, at angles of 65°
to 80°, rarely either more acute or obtuse. The secondary veins leave the midrib in cata-
dromous order at the same angles as those formed by pinna and rachis, and are mostly
forked, rarely simple. The ternary veins are also catadromous and mostly simple. The
sori occur on one or both of the exterior venules of each group of veins. The sporangia
were deciduous, and arranged round a small, oval, punctiform receptacle. There are
visible six to eight impressions to each cluster, but only the bases of these are seen in
places where the leaf has chipped off.

The fossil form is distinguished from all existing Glez'c/zem'ce by the possession of
tendrils or hooks, indicating a more pronounced creeping or climbing habit. With this
exception, however, it bears a close resemblance to two recent species, forming sections
of the sub-genus Meriensz'a, G. pectinafa and G. dicizozfoma. The size and form of the
pinnae, the branched and zigzag stipes, the buds occurring in the forks, the venation,
and the sori, are all similar. The resemblance is considerably heightened by the very
unequal lengths of the pinnules, even When side by side, and by the fact that only those
which are much longer than the rest are regularly crenated, as if the crenations were an
expression of luxuriant growth. Adiantoid bracts are sometimes developed at the
forkings, and these, being found associated with the fossil Glez'c/zem'a, had been thought
to indicate the presence of Adiantum.

G. peel/Water, which it the more particularly resembles, is a native of tropical South

EOCENE FERNS. 45

America, where it is common ; and G. diciwz‘oma, according to Hooker, is of “tropical and
subtropical regions, almost universal, in the New and in the Old Worlds, Pacific Islands,
and as far north as Japan.” A note by S. Hayes, in the British Museum Herbarium,
informs us that the former grows in extensive patches along the line of the Panama
Railway.

The genus Glez'claem'a appears to have reached its maximum development in Europe
in Pre-eocene or so-called Cretaceous times, and then to have died out or migrated, since
no species have been met with in the Miocene. Saporta has found similar fragments in
the gypsum of Aix, in Provence. Fragments are also met with at Aix-la-Chapelle, which
closely resemble it, but are stated by De Bey, after comparing specimens, to be all
more or less distinct.

The distribution of this Fern in England is almost limited to a thin band, only a few
inches thick, in the leaf-patch under the Highcliff Mansions at Bournemouth. In this
layer it was abundant, and numerous specimens were obtained by residents, in some of
whose collections they are still preserved. It was only after an interval of many years that
some small fragments were found last autumn, the result of extended digging in a
neighbouring patch. Its restricted distribution here should be taken into account in
generalising on the absence of Glez'c/zem'w in the Miocene of Europe.

The position in which the remains are found, overlying a marly bed, penetrated every-
where by its rootlets, seems to imply that it flourished in a considerable patch in a wet
clayey hollow.

Mr. Wanklyn kindly lent‘ the specimens figs. 1, 3, 4, 6, Pl. VI 3 Mr. Pender
figs. 2 and 5; and the VVoodwardian Museum figs. 2, 3, 4, Pl. X.

ANEMIA SUBCRETACEA (Saporta). Plates VIII and IX.

ASPLENIUM SUBCRETACEUM, Saporta. Flor. Foss. Sézanne, Mém. Soc. Géol. France,
3e sér., vol. viii, p. 315, pl. xxiii, fig. 4. 1868.
GYMNOGRAMMA HAYDENII, Lesquereuw. U. S. Annual Report, 1871, p. 295 and
Tertiary Flora, U. S. Geol. Survey of the
Territories, vol. vii, p. 59, pl. v, figs. 1—3.

1878.

A. stz'piie dictator/2a, fronde M-trgoimzata, pinnis coma-061072323, pinnulz's admin-
sessz'lz'éus, subdecurremz'bus lanceolatis vel laflceolaz‘o-Zz'neam'éus, acmumaiz‘s, yrosse clematis
eel irzcz'so-Zoéatis, [052's acutz's integewimis vel crenulatz's; [odomm flervatz'one more
Cyclopteridz's simplicis (equalis, newts tenm'ssimz's wide congeslz's, medium vim prominénie.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.
The materials for the determination and description of this Fern are abundant and

46 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

exceptionally well preserved. Pl. IX, fig. 2, represents an almost perfect frond (unfor-
tunately reduced in the engraving to one fourth the natural size), in which there is a
double forking of the stipes and a tripinnate limb. The pinnae are ovate in general out-
line, with sessile pinnules, almost decurrent at their base, as in P1. VIII, fig. 1, or more
rarely, and in the lower part of the pinnae only, shortly stipitate (Pl. IX, fig. 2). The
pinnules vary from broadly to linear lanceolate, and are very acuminate at the apex. The
margins are coarsely toothed, laciniate-dentate to lobed, the lobes being acute or crenulate.
The venation, magnified on P1. VIII, figs. 3 and 4, is of the type of Cyclopteris simplex
wqualis. There is either no midrib, as in the fig. 4 referred to, or it is faintly visible,
as in fig. 3, and the veins are very slender and close together. No traces of fertile pinnae
have hitherto been met with. _

The repeated forkings of the stipes and the type of venation point more to the genus
Anemia than to Asplenium, as dichotomy is characteristic of the Sc/iizmaceae, and similar
forked branching occurs in Anemia, either in the stipes of the sterile fronds only, or in both
the fertile and sterile fronds.

Saporta and Heer do not agree in our determination, and the former has kindly stated
at some length his reasons for differing : they are, that no known living Anemia has so
lanceolated and attenuated a form, nor so eoriaceous a texture; and that each segment,
whether entire or subdivided, is attached directly to the rachis as a pinnule or pinna, and
is never either decurrent or confluent. Anemia, he thinks, is adiantoid in growth, and
has nothing in common with this Fern. On the other hand, he felt, when he described it
from Sézanne, extremely doubtful whether it should be placed with Aspleninm ; and, these
doubts being now further confirmed, he has suggested 1 that, since it appears to be an
extinct form with doubtful affinities, a new genus, perhaps allied to Todea through
T. baréam, should be formed to receive it.

Dr. Stur, from an examination of the plates and a small specimen which I forwarded
to him, believed it to be an Osmnna’a. We cannot find, however, that any existing
Osmunda more closely resembles it than 0. regalis, and this seems so unlike in general
growth that the data for placing it in that genus appear to us insufficient. Neither are
we able to consider it an Asplenium; for, although many species of that genus resemble
it somewhat in their general free growth, cutting, and venation, yet no vestiges of the
sori, so abundant and persistent on the fronds of Asplenium, have ever been found in any
locality upon any of the great number of specimens examined. It seems almost certain
that the fertile pinna: were separate ; and, as we have seen in the similar cases of Clzrysodinm
and Osmanda, therefore rarely, if ever, preserved. Notwithstanding that it does not agree
very closely with any existing species of Anemia, the general form and dichotomy of the
frond, the venation, the length and strength of the stipes, the separation of the fertile and
barren pinnae, have, after much consideration, induced us to place it in the genus Anemia.

In addition to the genera mentioned, it is also not unlike T/eyrsopi‘enis and some

1 In letter.

EOCENE FERNS. 47

Davallz'w, but no known Fern resembles it so closely as Anemia adianlz'folz'a,‘ Sw., an
inhabitant of Cuba, Bahamas, Florida, and Mexico to Bahia.

Saporta has kindly compared specimens from Bournemouth with those of Sézanne,
and writes respecting them, “ J 6 n’hésite pas a déclarer qu’il s’agit d’zme seule et méme
espéce.” Lesquereux, to whom we are much indebted, has also compared Bourne-
mouth specimens with those from the Eocene of North America, and has written, “ I do
not see any difference whatever.”

Asplem'um ersz‘em', Deb. and Ett., described in the ‘Urweltliche Acrobryen des
Kreidegebirges von Aachen,’ pl. ii, figs. 4, 7, 11, is also closely related to, if not
identical with, A. suécrez‘acea. De Bey sees in them a close resemblance, but not
identity. The specimens figured by Heer in the ‘ Kreide-Fl. der Arct.-Zone,’ p. 93,
pl. xxvi, fig. 1, as A. Foersterz', seem to belong to quite a different species, and Dr.
De Bey writes that this and other identifications were made without any comparison
with his specimens.

This Fern is found more especially to the east of Bournemouth Pier, and
appears to have attained its greatest luxuriance when growing with Aro'ids and Conifers.
It decreases in size and abundance in the beds westward, towards Poole Harbour,
and at Branksea small pinnm only are met with, such as are drawn on Pl. IX, figs.
3 and 5. The specimen, pl. vi, fig. 6, ‘Lignites of Bovey Tracey,’ from Bovey, may
belong to this species. Heer is confident that he has seen it from Alum Bay, but it may
possibly have been erroneously labelled.

A fragment of this Fern, probably the one just alluded to, was named Asplem'um
Martinsi by Heer, but not figured, and has been referred to in several subsequent
works.

(G) Scfiizwacece.
LYGODIUM KAULrUssr, Heer. Plate VII, figs. 1, 3—8; Plate X, fig. 11.

LYGODIUM KAULFUSSI, Heer. Flora of Skopau, Beitrage zur niiher Kenntniss d. Sachs-
Thiiring. Braunkohle, p. 409, pl. viii, fig. 21 ; pl. ix,
fig. 1, 1861.

— NEUROPTEROIDES, Lesquereux. Annual Report U.S. Survey, 1870, p. 384;
1871, p. 284. Tertiary Flora, U.S.
Survey of the Territories, vol. vii, p. 61,

1878, p1. v, figs. 4—7; pl. vi, fig. 1.
ANEMIA KAULFUSSI, Heer,- Crié. L’ouest de la France a l’époque tertiaire, p. 22,

p1. A, fig. 3, 1878.

 

1 Ett., ‘Farnkriiuter,’ p1. clxxiii, figs. 7, 8.

48 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

Lfronde fertilz' superne simpliciter, inferne bi-vel ternato-pz'mamminnis simpliciéus vel
bi-trgoariitis, Zacz'm'is integrals, clematis, fructg'ferz's spicas Zineari-oblongas compressas
obtusiusculas formans ,- fronds sterilz' incequah'ter M-L‘ri-guadri-partita vel simplice,
undulata ; [062's ianm'longz's, .9146 anyuh's acutz's, vam'z's divergentiéus, e basi plus minusve
dilatata, elongato-Zanceolafis, apice oétusz's; nervatz'one Cyclopz‘erz'dis composite, nervz's
primariz's inwgm'longz's subflewuosis ,- nerm’s secundariz's densis, sub angulis acutz'ssz'mz's
orientiéus, prominentiéus tridic/wtomz’s.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth.

The pinnae in this species, as in most Lyyodz'a, are variable, and may be entire
when little developed or cleft palmately into two, three, or four divisions. All these
forms are represented on P1. VII, and might have occurred on the same plant. The
lobes are usually unequal, and diverge from each other at angles of from 30° to 60°.
They are narrow, lanceolate, sometimes very elongate, generally widened at the base,
where they are confluent, undulate, more or less acuminate, but sometimes obtuse at the
terminations. The venation, enlarged in fig. 6, is that of ‘ Cyclopz‘em's composita. The
primary veins are divergent and curved from the base, sinuous, attenuated upwards,
excurrent or lost in the lamina (fig. 7). The secondary veins are close together, and given
off at acute angles of from 10° to 30°, thrice forked, and so sharply defined throughout
their whole course that their ramifications are discernible without the aid of a lens. The
lobes of the fertile pinnae are petiolated (Pl. X, fig. 11); in the upper part solitary or
undivided, but in the lower part two or three occur together or are twice or thrice
divided. The pinnules are linear, elongated, rather obtuse, and finely toothed on the
margin, and the rachides were not winged. A small fragment was figured by Heer
from the Eocene beds of Skopau. His enlargement is in form and venation identical
with ours, and they cannot be specifically separated, as was indeed first pointed out by
Heer1 himself. A comparison, by Lesquereux, of actual specimens from Bournemouth
has shown, as appeared evident from the plates and description, that L. neuropferoia’es
and the English species were one. Lesquereux says2 that “it is positively identical.”
Dr. Crié also has found it in the Eocene “Gres de la Sarthe.” Other allied species,
I. parvg'folz'um and L. ewqm'situm, have been found at Aix in Provence, and Count
Saporta informs us that the fertile fronds in these are identical with the British form.
Since pinnae are comparatively rare in all these widely separated localities we may infer
that Lygodz'um had a still greater geographical range in Eocene times.

The two fossils described by Watelet as ngodz'um, from the Paris Basin, belong to
one species, and this bears little resemblance to any belonging to that genus.

L. Kaulfussz' appears nearly allied to the form described as Miocene. Heer, in his
‘ Tertiarflora der Schweiz,’ vol. i, pp. 41—43, distinguishes five species ; but, from the
figures, the propriety of giving them specific rank seems doubtful, especially in a Fern

1 In letter. 2 In letter.

EOCENE FERNS. 49

hearing fronds of such unequal size, and so variable that the number and angle of
divergence of the lobes differ strikingly in the same plant, while the primary veins may
also be either excurrent or merged, free to the base or united. If the Swiss species are
united, it is seen that the British form differs from them in having, on the average,
considerably larger and longer, slightly undulating lobes. It also bore simple fronds,
none of which have been met with in the latter. The lobes in the former always
diverge at acute angles, whilst in the latter they frequently diverge at obtuse angles. In
the British fOrm the venation is more pronounced and the veins more crowded together.
Count Saporta has met with one of these, L. Gaudz'm’, in the Upper Oligocene of Céreste,
and has again found that the fertile fronds are identical with those of Bournemouth.
Another very similar form has been described in De Bey and Ettingshausen’s ‘ Kreide-
Flora von Aachen,’ from mere fragments. Lesquereux, in the ‘ U.S. Geol. Survey of the
Territories,’ vol. vii, 1878, describes three other species, two of which, however, appear to
us’ to have been founded on scarcely sufficient material.

Among recent species, L. palmatum, inhabiting Florida to Massachusets, bears the
closest resemblance to L. Ifaulfwssz', especially in the form of the fertile fronds. The
barren fronds of the fossil were much larger, and tapered to the base; yet no other
existing Lyyodz'um has such a thin and sinuous mid-rib, nor precisely the same form of
fertile frond. It is remarkable, as Saporta has pointed out,l that all the fossil Lygodz'a
yet described are referable to the section of the genus now represented by the single
species L. palmatum.

L. Kaulfussz’ is found sparingly at Bournemouth, associated with dicotyledonous
leaves of forest trees ; more rarely in company with other Fern remains. It is occasion-
ally found in the leaf-beds under the High Cliff Hotel, but more generally in the beds at
the western termination of the Bournemouth Cliffs, near Poole Harbour. The bases of
the fronds are seldom preserved either in this or the Miocene form, whilst the ends of
the lobes are constantly doubled over, as if they were of soft consistence and could not
withstand maceration. The fertile fronds have not been met with associated with the
barren fronds, but were found under the High Cliff Mansions by Mr. A. Baldry, junior,
to whom we are indebted for the opportunity of figuring them.

(H) Osmunclacew.

OSMUNDA LIGNITUM, Giebel (sp.). Plate IV, figs. 1—3.

PECOPTERIS LIGNITUM, P. cmssmnnvrs, P. LEUCOI’ETRIE, P. ANGUSTA, Giebel. Zeit-
schrift fiir die gesammten Naturwissenschaften, vol. x,
pp. 303—307, pl, ii, 1857. .

1 In letter.

 

50 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

ASPIDIUM LIGNITUM, Heer. Beitr. S'achs.-Thiiring. Braunk., p. 424, pl. ix, figs. 2, 3,
1861.
DRYANDRA RIGIDA, Heer. 1b., p. 427, pl. x, fig. 15.
ASPIDIUM MEYERI, Ludwig (non Hear). Palaeontographica, vol. viii, p. 63, pl. xii, fig. 3,
1860.
PECOPTERIS LIGNITUM, Heer. Lignites of Bovey Tracey, Phil. Trans., vol. clii, p. 1047,
pl. lv, figs. 5 and 6 (not fig. 4) ; pl. lvi, figs. 2—11
(not fig. 1), 1861.
OSMUNDA GRUTSCHREIBERI, Stur. Jahrbuch der k. k. Geol. Reichsanstalt, vol. xx,
p. 9, p1. ii, 1870.
— LIGNITUM, Heer. Ueber die Braunkohlen-Flora des Zsily-Thales, Jahrbuch
der k. Ungar. Geol. Anstalt., vol. ii, p. 9, pl. 1, figs.
2, 3, 1872.

0. frouu’e piuuata, Mum's elougaio-Zz'ueuriéus, suécom'acez's, apice wide atteuuutzs et
acumz'uatz's, dusi dreviter petiolutz's, margiue profuude inciso-sermtis rarius remote
deutz'culatis vel basz' uudulutz's ; uervatioue Pecopzfem'dis vem’, uervo primam'o basz' valido
promiueute, subreca‘o, apicem versus attenuato, indiviso ; uerm's secuudam'z's uumerosis,
auyuh's acutis egredz'eutz'éus, plus miuusve flexuosis sud apicibus [050mm plerumque
furcatz's ; uervis tertiam'z's iuferz'om'busfurcutis sub augulz's minus acutz's orientibus, mm'us
elouyatz's couvergeufl-arcuutz’s, sz'uum uttiuyeutz'bus ; uervz’s tertiam'z's superioribus sud
auyulz's acutz'ssimz's orientiéus, swpe simplz'cflius suécurvazfz'sflewuosz'sve.

Middle Bagshot, Bournemouth and Bovey Tracey.

The pinnules are found in layers in some of the black clay beds both east and west of
the pier at Bournemouth. Whole slabs are often covered with these pinnules, which are
always detached. When first found they are perfectly preserved and of a substance like
coal, but on exposure to the air the leaves crack and dry up from, the matrix in a few
moments, and their preservation is difficult. Occasionally well-preserved pinnules are
also found in the Fern-beds under the Marine Beds; elsewhere they are rare, and towards
Poole I have found but a solitary fragment. They occur precisely as at Bovey, and are
equally associated with terminal buds of a Sequoia-like Conifer, rush-like leaves, and
spines of Cactus. Stur has figured a specimen with pinnae attached, which he has
named 0. Gruz‘scfireiéeri ,- and he has obliged us by stating that he still considers the
presence of a small basal expansion on the under-side of the pinna as of specific value.
In the ‘ Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,’ vol. xxvi, pl. 24, p. 349, Carruthers
described and figured a Fern-stem under the name of Osmuudz'tes Dow/card, from the
Thanet Sands, which was so beautifully preserved that even the starch granules were
replaced by silica and so preserved. It belonged to a larger species than 0. regalz's
(see p. 53).

The following corrections have, in our opinion, to be made in Prof. Heer’s descrip-
tion of 'Osmuuda Zzym'tum (Pecoptm's, Heer), from the ‘ Lignites of Bovey Tracey.’

Pl. v, figs. 9, 10, 1 1, ‘ Lignites of Bovey Tracey,’ represent circinate vernation, found as-‘

EOCENE FERNS. 51

sociated with abundant remains of Goniopicris stiriaca and Osmzmda Ziyiiitum, and assumed
by Heer to belong to the latter (0]). cit, p. 31), “as being the commonest” Fern. Nothing
of this nature has been met with at Bournemouth in beds in which the pinnw of Osmumla
are alone massed together; but at La Rochette,1 where Osmimda ligizitum is absent and
Goniopieris stiriaca present, identical remains are found and described by Heer as
portions of the latter Fern.

Pl. iv, figs. 4: a, 5, 6,2 represent parts of the rachis of a Fern, but there is nothing to
support Prof. Heer’s idea that these belong to his Pecom‘eris ligmitum (op. cit, p. 30), as
no pinnules were found attached to them. Against his views we have the fact, that the
rachis of Osmunda is rarely met with in the fossil state, and is easily recognised by the
deep scars left by the deciduous pinnae, also that pinnae have never been found attached
under the conditions in which the Bovey and Bournemouth specimens are preserved;
they have in fact but once been met with attached, and that under totally different condi-
tions of preservation.3 Indeed, Prof. Heer’s own figures show them in closer juxta-
position with G. siiriaca, the pinnae of which have everywhere been met with attached to
this kind of rachis. The enlarged fig. 6, pl. vi, is no portion of this Osmunda; but
(when reduced to its natural size) is seen to be a fragment of Anemia. Compare our
fig. 1, Pl. VIII.

Pl. vii, fig. 1, represents a fossil very abundant at Bovey, and of which specimens are
still preserved in the Museum at J ermyn Street. They are called by Heer “ large rhizomes
quite covered with petioles ” (op. cit, p. 31). We are assured, however, by Mr. Baker,
of the Kew Herbarium, associated with Sir W. Hooker in his ‘ Synopsis Filicum,’
that, in his opinion, they are not even portions of any Ferns, but apparently more like
stems of the Australian Grass-trees ; and in this view we entirely coincide. The rhizomes
with cicatricules, fig. 2, Zoe. cit, also do not appear to us to belong to Osmzmda.

Perhaps the most remarkable, because completely unfounded, of the assertions which
Heer made regarding this Fern is to be found at pages 25 and 33, op. cit, where, only
because he fancied it might be an arborescent Hemiteiia, and the pinnae are abundant, he
states that its stems and those of Sequoia “certainly contribute the greatest amount of
lignite,” and “in the shade of the forest throve numerous Ferns, one species of which
(P. Zigniium) seems to have formed trees of imposing grandeur.” The facts, however,
as far as we know them, are that no vestiges of stems of Tree-ferns have ever been found
at Bovey or in any British Eocene bed; while Tree-ferns in their native habitats, as in
Australia, seem to form a mere undergrowth to trees which ;are really of imposing
grandeur.

It is strange that in each case in which Heer has figured this Fern he has permitted
the lithographer to make the leaf an impossible one, by colouring the outer pair of veins

1 Heer, ‘Flor. Tert. Helv.,’ vol. i, p. 32, pl. viii, fig. 7. 2 ‘ Lignites of Bovey Tracey.’
3 See reference to 0. Grutsclzreiberi, Stur, in list of synonyms The original specimen is in the
Imperial Geological Institute at Vienna.

52 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

as if they were the margins of the leaf; for example, ‘ Lignites of Bovey,’ pl. vi, fig. 2,
‘Flora of Skopau,’ p1. ix, figs. 2 6, 2, 3 ; ‘Flora des Zsilythales,’ pl. i, figs. 2, 3 ; and in
each case he has given it a different name. We find it described by him as Aspidium,
Pecopz‘erz's (in the belief that it was a Hemitelz'a), Bryandm, and Osmunda. The last
name did not appear in his works until two years after its true affinity was pointed
out by Stur; and yet it so exactly resembles the wide-spread and, well-known
O. javam'ca that not even a good specific distinction can be pointed out. It might,

     

FIG. 22.—Dryandra rigida, Heer FIG. 23.—Aspidz'um ligm'tum, Heer . FIG. 24.-—0smumla lignz'tum
(Skopau). (Skopau). (Bournemouth).

perhaps, have been thought that the invariable absence of any traces of spores on the
pinnae would at least have directed his attention more especially to those genera which
have fructification like Osmunda. When determining the Bovey plants Prof. Heer
“ sought in vain for sori amongst many hundreds of pinnules,” and hesitated to name it
Hemitelz'a, “ till the fruits are found, which certainly will be soon” (p. 31).

In the ‘ Flora Fossilis Arctica ’ Heer compares a fragment named by him Pecopterz's
Torellz'z' with this Fern ; but the two do not at all resemble each other.

V This fossil Osmzmda appears to have been simply pinnate, the barren pinnae cuneate
at the base, slightly stalked, with sharply- toothed margin, and of almost coriaceous
texture.

It has been frequently described, for it is met with in many localities of France and
Germany, from the Tongrian and Aquitanian stages. It was not a Miocene Fern in
Europe, so far as we know at present, but was essentially characteristic of the Middle
Eocene and Oligocene. Notwithstanding its great abundance, fertile pinnae have not been
remarked, and only 1n one instance (0. Gmtscfirez‘bem‘) have the pinnae been found attached
to the rachis.

A separate specific name appears almost superfluous, for the fossil species so closely
resembles some of the forms of Osmundajavam'ca, Blume, as to be indistinguishable. In
the latter the pinnae are petiolated, and very readily become detached, leaving a pit-like
scar on the stem, and this structural character, rare in Osmum’a, seems to account satis-
factorily for the detached state in which the fossil pinna: have been found. The fertile
pinnae in the living plant are made up of numerous sessile clusters of too dense a nature,

EOCENE FERNS. 53

perhaps, to preserve any distinct form if fossil. 0. javam'ca ranges from Kamschatka to
Java and Ceylon, and is described by the Rev. C. P. Parish as a magnificent plant,
similar to Cycas in growth.l

OSMUNDITES DOWKERI, Oarmtfiers.

OSMUNDITES DOWKERI, Carruthers. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxvi, p. 349, pls.
xxiv, xxv, 1870.
_. _. -— Geol. Mag, vol. ix, p. 52, 1872.

Thanet Sands, Kent.

This species is based upon a portion of a stem found at Herne Bay, and is admitted
to have been derived from the Thanet Sands. The whole of the tissues are replaced by
silica, so that the cells and vessels, and even the starch granules, which abound in the
parenchyma of Ferns, are exquisitely preserved. The structure, minutely described by
Mr. Carruthers, is seen to agree with similar portions of the stem of 0. reyah's, which are
figured by him for comparison. The fossil has been a larger plant than our recent
0. 716911155. In discussing the paper Mr. Etheridge mentioned the discovery of fossil Fern
stems of somewhat similar character at Bromsgrove.

P'rnnrs (P) PRESTWICHII, Ett. and Gard. Plate X, fig. 8.

P. pinnis elongatis lanceolaio-Zinearibus, margine inlegerrz'mz's, nervatione Neuro-
pterz'dz's acrostz'cfiacew, nervoprz’mario prom Meme, apicem versus sensim alienaato ; nervz's
secundarz'z's sub angulis acutz's orientiéus, wide approximatis, bi- vel trg'furcazfis, ramis inter
86 parallelis, cum nervo primario angulum acutumformmztz'bus.

Woolwich and Reading Beds, Counter Hill, near Lewisham.

Our illustration is copied from that given by Professor Prestwich in the‘ Quart.
Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. 11, p. 156, pl. iii, fig. 6. We have not been able to ascertain
that any of the original specimens are now preserved. ‘ Prestwich describes it as “ one of
the recent discoveries by the Rev. Mr. De la Condamine at Counter Hill. This Fern is
probably an Asplem'um ,- the leaflets occur in some numbers, and are associated with
fragments of monocotyledonous leaves, . . . and one or more dicotyledonous
leaves” (p. 156).

There is no particular reason to suppose it to be a Ptem‘s; but in the absence of
contradictory generic characters we have thought it convenient to consider it as belonging

1 See a sketch in the Kew Herbarium.

54

BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

to that genus, especially as it seems to differ but slightly from Ptem's pennwformis, Heer,
P. pseudolnennoeformz's, Lesquereux, and other Eocene Ferns.

The specimens figured by Heer in the ‘ Flora Tert. Helvetica,’ vol. i, as P. Parscnln-
yiana, P. pennceformz's, and P. Gaudz'nz', belong, with perhaps one exception, to a single ‘
species. He only separates them on account of the occasionally twice-forking veins and
the slightly-toothed margin of the latter. Both characters, however, are seen to be shared
by P. pennazformis, the first in pl. xii, fig. 1 c, and the second in fig. 1 6. P. Gaudz'ni
is also identical, and the species is described merely on a rather smaller pinna. Fig. 2 a
seems to be an entirely different form.

 

 

e
l ,
L

\

Fm. 25.—P. Hon/Peri. Traced
from Mr. Fitch’s drawing.

PTERIS (P) HOOKERI, Heer (sp).

PECOPTERIS HOOKERI, Heer. Lignites of Bovey Tracey,
. p. 33, pl. vii, fig. 3, 1863.

P. pinnis elonyaio-Zanceolatz's, ienue-sermtz's; nervatz'one Ale-
thopterz'dis genuine, nervo primario tenm', nerve}? secundariz's angulo
acntz'ssz'mo orientiéns, name's elongatis.

Middle Bagshot, Bovey Tracey.

The drawing reproduced is from the original study by Mr.
Fitch, which is not, as stated by Heer, of the natural size, but
enlarged two or three times. The specimen itself was lost before
Heer described it, but Mr. Fitch’s experience and reputation in
delineating Ferns is so great that the accuracy of his drawing
cannot be questioned. It slightly resembles portions of the Pierz's
Eocenz'ca of Bournemouth; and approaches, both in its venation
and serration, the apices of pinnules of a number of existing
species of Ptem's, as well as of other Ferns.

(I) Mamfiz'acece.

MARATTIA HOOKERI, Ett. and Gard. Plate XII, figs. 1—7.

M fronde quadri- (?) pinnatz'fla’a, snbmeméranacea, r/aacfiz'a’e anyuste (data, seymentz's
oblique oblonyis [Jame dentm‘z's ; nervatz'one Umwedopteridz's, nerve primario e Mac/tide
angnlo acm‘o orients, tenm', nerves secnndam'z'spancis tenm'ssz'nn's, vim distinctis.

EOCENE FERNS. 55

Lower Bagshot, Alum Bay. .

This species appears to have been closely allied to the existing Mammal Kaulfussz'z',
J. Smith; and its fronds were probably, as in the recent species, tri-quadripinnatifid, and
of large size. Although the pinnules figured are fragmentary and
mostly detached, this condition appears to have resulted mainly from
the accidents of collection. The pinnules are lanceolate and profoundly
pinnatifid. The segments are obliquely lanceolate, largest on the upper
side next the rachis, and with acuminated apex; toothed towards the
base of the pinnules, becoming simple and finally confluent at their apex.
The rachis is slender and very distinctly winged. The texture seems
to have been herbaceous to membranaceous. The primary veins of the
segments are sharply defined and distinct to the apex, but the secon-
dary veins are very indistinct, and only traceable on one specimen
(figs. 4 and 4 a), in which they seem to be few, simple, slightly curved,
forming an obtuse angle with the mid-rib, and terminating in the
marginal teeth; and on another (fig. 6, 6 a), from apparently a basal .yi!»
pinnule, in which they are seen to be more complex. In the existing F6. 26__Mmm(l
species the synangia are situated on the secondary veins of the seg- Kaulfum'i-
ments, not easily removed, and leave behind them the basal part of the short stalk
by which they are attached. No trace of even this attachment, however, is discernible
in the fossils, except in one instance where there is an appearance of the synangia themselves
being preserved (fig. 6). The fragment, barely two centimetres in length (Pl. XII,
fig. 7), presents greater decurrence in the segments, and might on this account have
been considered separate, but that this character is seen to an even greater extent in the
ends of the pinnules of M. Kaulfussiz'.

fllarattz'a Kaugfussii is the only species belonging to the group Eupodz'um, separated
on account of its short-stalked synangia without an involucre. Its fronds measure
three to four feet in length. It inhabits the West Indies and Columbia to Ecuador and
Rio Janeiro. M Hoo/ren' is distinguishable by its more elegant and slender pinnules,
the more sharply lanceolate and less deeply toothed segments, and less amply winged
rachis, resembling in these respects, very closely, the young fronds of the existing species
with which it is compared.

No fossil Fern distinctly belonging to Marattia had previously been described.

M Hoo/tem' seems not to have been rare at Alum Bay, but it had been overlooked in
collections owing to its superficial resemblance to Conifers with which it had been found
associated. There is now but little hope that better specimens will be obtained from the
locality.

 

FILICEs INCERTE snms.

I. The specimen figured in P1. II, fig. 6, presents no sufficient characters for
- 9

56 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

determination. It is apparently an oval leaf, sessile on a stem, something like Pota-
mogeton. The venation is “ Cycltmiem's,” and therefore cannot be that of a Monocotyledon,
and, although obscure, is seen to be converging, and the veins may have been united to
the stalk. In one place, near the base, a distinct forking is seen. Heer regards it as
referable to Alisma or Potamogez‘on.

II. A fragment of a leaf (fig. 27), from Reading was figured, together with others,
by Professor Prestwich, in the ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. x,
pl. iv, fig. 11. Sir Joseph Hooker, who examined it, remarks (op.
cit., p. 166) that it resembled a fragment of a Fern frond, “but
equally well represents a portion of the pinnatifid leaf of a.
composite or umbelliferous plant, and may, indeed, be referred
to very many other natural orders.” Leaves of composite or umbel-
liferous plants, however, are not met with in the Eocenes, while Ferns
are seldom absent from any assemblage of their vegetable remains;

. since, therefore, the form closely approaches to that of some Ferns, as

F‘fionf7figa’fiirg’: 81,52: Asp/enium dimorp/mm, &c., it seems mest probable that its place is

Egriii'e. P’eS‘Wich’s among them. It bears a resemblance to forms, from the supposed
Cretaceous rocks of Greenland, described by Heer as Jeanpaulia.

III. Pl. X, fig. .7, represents the only fragment of Fern yet found at Bromley. It
might be placed in Aspidz'um or Gleic/Lem'a, and there are fossil forms figured in Heer's
‘ Arctic Floras ’ with which it could possibly be united.

IV. There are, in addition to the Ferns described above, indications of a variety of
other forms from Bournemouth, which we have thought too uncertain or fragmentary
to be worth including in our descriptions. Three of these appear to be Polypod'ia,
one recalling P. serpents and another P. barrows.

 

Perhaps the most striking fact brought to light during the progress of our work thus
far, is the identity, or at least similarity, of the majority of our British Eocene Ferns with
those of other fossil floras containing dicotyledons, already described from Europe or
America. All of them are well represented elsewhere, with the exception principally
of our group of P/zymaz‘odes, Hewardz'a, and Marattz'a. This, and other facts con-
nected with them, will be best brought out by tabulating them according to Sir W.
Hooker’s classification (omitting, however, all those about whose determination we feel
any degree of doubt), and uniting with them their fossil allies. Although each of the
groups so composed only comprises forms which might apparently be united, since they
seem to come within the limits of variation seen in analogous species of existing Ferns,
yet it is most desirable to retain all specific names which mark constant differences. Not
only may these become of the greatest value in determining the relative ages of fossil
floras in the absence of stratigraphical evidence, but by a due appreciation of the slight,
but progressive changes in what must, in a broad sense, be considered as the same species

EOCENE FERNS.

57

of plant, we may hope to trace its life-history. Thus, it can scarcely be doubted that we
are already in possession of a series of modifications of the species of Lyyodium now
represented by L. palmalum, a form so distinct at the present day that it is the only type
of one section of the genus, and the history of which, traced back to pre-Eocene times, is
marked by slight but frequent modifications in the form of the barren fronds, While the
fertile fronds have remained almost unchanged.’‘6 On the other hand we see, for example,
that hardly any modification has taken place in Cbrysodz'um aureum, and none is
perceptible in Osmunda Javanica since Eocene times.

 

TABLE OF THE MORE DISTINCTIVE OF THE BRITISH EOCENE FERNS, WITH THEIR
NEAREST FOSSIL AND EXISTING ALLIES, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO SIR W.

HOOKER’S CLASSIFICATION.

 

 

SUB-ORDER I.
GLEICHENIACEZE.
Genus Gleic/zenia.
1‘ G. Hantonensis

SUB-ORDER II.
POLYPODIACEJE.
Tribe VI, PTERIDEZE.
Genus Adiantum.
A. apalophyllum . .
Sub-genus Hewardz'a.

fH. regia .

Genus Pterz's.
P. eocenica. (P. Gaudini, Heer,
Osmunda (P) eocenica, Sap.,
c

P.Bournensis. (P. Aquensis, Sap.,
P. (Eningensis, Ung., and}
very many others)
Tribe VII, BLECHNEZE.

Genus Woodwardz'a.

* W. Roessneriana, Ung.
although not a British fossil

is tabulated in place of the

more doubtful W. venosa) .
Tribe XI, POLYPODIjE.
Sub-genus Goniopterz's.

* G.Bunburyi. (G.polypodioides,
G. (Eningense, A. Braun, &c.) i

(This

a
’
)

 

 

 

IN EUROPE.

Lower Eocene and below.

Middle Eocene.

Oligocene.
Miocene.

IN AMERICA.

 

Eocene

 

 

IN ARCTIC
REGIONS.

Eocene (P) I

 

Range of nearest existing representative
(for details, consult Hooker’s ‘ Synopsis
Filicum.’)

(G. dichotoma, Tropics of Eastern
1 and Western hemispheres.

S. temperate regions of Eastern
and Western hemispheres.
of Western

{A capillus-veneris, Sub-tropical and

SH. Wilsoni, Tropics
( hemisphere.

l
l

(W. radicans, sub-tropics, Eastern
Z and Western hemisphere.

P. cretica, Sub—tropical and S. tem-
perate regions of Eastern and
Western hemispheres.

P. aquilina, Northern and temperate
to tropical regions of Eastern and
Western hemispheres.

 

{G diversifolium, Tropics of Western
hemisphere.

 

* We are indebted to Count Saporta for information concerning the fertile fron

     
 

m:- ‘rx: .
NIVERSITY .

op .
» warp RN}

U

    

 

58 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

 

 

 

IN EUROPE. < O
O I-u m
. E i" z
3 ° o
o H a: "‘
._. 2 <1 c
.8 4 z a
1 z ,_, a: Range of nearest existing representative
:3; . H (for details, consult Hooker’s‘ Synopsis
of: g Filicum. ’)
o 8
8 O as A
m . fl:
m =1 a: V
s 3 § 5 2 g
g 5 .so § 32; £3
.4 2 o 2 m a:
’I

G. Stiriaca. (G. Dalmatica, and}
many others)
Sub- -genus Phymatodes.

*1. P. p olyp o d101 d es ' ' . {R geminatum, Tropics of Western

hemisphere.
Tribe XIII, ACROSTICHEZE.
Sub-genus Chrysodz’um.

G. proliferum, Tropics of Eastern
hemisphere.

* C Lanzeeannm . {G aureum, Tropics of Eastern and

' ' ' Western hemispheres.
SUB-ORDER III.

OSMUNDACEZE.

Genus Osmunda.

* O. Heerii, Gaudin. (O. petiolata,

 

. O.’ re alis Arctic to sub-tro ical
O. Obergiana Heer, &c.) .g ’ P
Tabulated as, British (?) — é Eifiggshgfefastem and Western

through 0. Dowkeri.

* 0 . . O. Javanica, Tropics, &c., of Eastern
' ligmtum hemisphere.

SUB-ORDER IV.

SCHIZEEACEEE.

Genus Anemia.

 

 

 

A. subcretacea (A. Fmrsteri, Deh. __ A. adiantifolia, Sub-tropics, &c., of
& Ett. ) . . . """ { Western hemisphere.
Genus Lygodium.
L. Kaulfussl (L. Gaudini, Keely} 3 4 L. palmatum, Sub-tropics, Western
L. exquisetum, Sap, &c.) . """""" { hemisphere.
SUB-ORDER V.
MARATTIACEZE.
Genus Marattia.
M. Hookeri . _ . . __ {M11 Kaulfussii, Tropics of Western
emisphere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Signifies that the form is almost specifically indistinguishable from existing species. 1‘ Indicates
that the fossil species has only been met with in England. That the form is represented by a less
closely allied species. 1, 2, 3, are Aix-la-Chapelle species. 4, L. Kargii, Hear, of Oeningen. 5, W.
latiloba, Lesq. 6, W. venosa. The allied species are enclosed in ( ).

The above table comprises fifteen species, Which have been described from such exceptionally ample
and well-preserved specimens that it seems unlikely that doubt can arise respecting the accuracy of their
determination. The list might have been extended, yet even as it stands no striking group is omitted
except the Tree-ferns of Sézanne, and it is thus remarkable that nearly all the distinctive forms and those
of most value for comparison should belong to our British Eocene flora. Compared With the total number
of existing Ferns they appear very few; yet, contrasted With the present fern-flora of North America,
which contains but fifty species, with that of Europe, which possesses but sixty, or still more so with
that of Great Britain, which has but thirty-six, their number does not appear insignificant.

< , “nun ~4
s; ,

EOCENE FERNS. 59

The preceding table1 is full of suggestive interest and contains new evidence bearing
upon questions of the highest physical importance.

In conclusion the principal types are recapitulated, in order to include details of
distribution and relationship to other recent and fossil Ferns omitted in the specific
descriptions.

 

1. GLEICHENIA HANTONENSIS, Wan/r1972. (Page 48.)

The only Glez'c/aem'a yet met with in the Eocene closely resembles G. diciaoz‘oma, the
sole existing representative of a well-defined subsection of the genus. The agreement
between them is striking, and extends to some minute details ; thus, the primary veins
are grouped and divided identically, the sori are identical in form, and, like in G. die/zo-
z‘oma, although usually situated on the upper or left hand secondary vein only, some-
times occur on both the secondary veins. This duplication of the normal single sorus to
each primary vein characterises De Bey and Ettingshausen’s genus Didymosoms, a
genus which can hardly now be sustained since G. diciwloma has sometimes more than one
sorus to each primary vein. From the very fragmentary condition of the few specimens
figured by De Bey and Ettingshausen, it cannot yet be said that the possession of two
sori to each primary vein is a constant character. But were the fixity of this character
apparent there might now be hesitation in attaching specific value to it. The stipes,
rachis, and even the leaves in vernation were glabrous.

Specimens of Glez'cfiem'a dic/mtoma from Sydney and East Australia appear less rigid
and more membranous in character than those from elsewhere, and the Eocene species

1 We have but to consider the almost complete absence of any records of'othcr herbaceous plants, the
difficulty with which mountain species, which form a large proportion of fern-floras, or species with such
habits as Ophioglossum, Asplem'um ruta-muraria, A. Ceterack, &c., could find their way into these deposits,
to realise that we are probably only acquainted with those ferns whose habits favoured their preservation.

But as nearly the whole of them, have been found at Bournemouth, almost on one spot, and as
repeated search has brought no new forms to light, there can be little doubt but that we possess a nearly
complete knowledge of the Eocene lowland forest fern-flora of at least this locality, and probably no existing
area would furnish a greater variety of types under similar conditions. Although, therefore, the number is
small compared to other orders of plants, we cannot help believing the fermflora to have been extremely
rich, considering, as we have said, the complete absence of genera even as cosmopolitan as Asplenium, whose
habits are less favorable to preservation.

The British and foreign Ferns provisionally placed together in this table were united, in some cases,

from a comparison of illustrations and descriptions only, and the grouping is therefore to a certain extent
but an indication of useful work still to be carried out.

10

60 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

seems more closely to agree with them in this, as well as in the undulation and frequent
crenation of the margin of the longer pinnules.

In spite of so many points of resemblance the specific difference between the fossil and
its existing ally is extremely well marked. The fossil form appears to have possessed
a longer and more repeatedly branching stem. In the recent form thepinnae are
dichotomous, and, as I interpret the fossil species, it also was dichotomous, for the hook
or short tendril at the base of the single pinna represents the aborted second pinna
converted into this singular form. This highly specialised condition may have been
induced by the comparative length and weakness of the rachis, the want of rigidity in
which is indicated in the fossil by the somewhat sinuous midribs of the pinnae.

 

FIG. 28.—Habit of Gleichenia Hantonensz‘s restored.

The conversion of these pinnae into tendril—like supports appears to have been
compensated by the former development of the now rudimentary buds, always present
between the forking of the stem, into a third pinna or smaller pair of pinnae.l With the
disappearance of the tendrils in the existing plant this central bud has ceased to expand,
or exceptionally becomes a barren adiantoid bract. Pl. VI, fig. 3, may represent one of
the simple pinnae from the base of the forked branches, characteristic of the section of
G. diciwzfoma. The position of these in the existing plant is shown in fig. 28.

Remains of this fern were formerly so abundant at Bournemouth that it is to be

} The restoration shows a pair of terminal pinnae, taken from Plate X, fig. 2.

EOCENE FERNS. 61

regretted that no collector should have secured specimens exhibiting its growth in a
more satisfactory manner. Remains of forked stems, 3 to 5 mm. in Width, associated
_ with the pinnae, are doubtless the thicker parts of the rachis, and show that these and
the fronds were of large size.

This description, although differing in some respects from the former one, is, I
believe, more correct, being based upon a larger number of fragments.

G. diciwtoma is almost universally distributed in Tropical and sub-Tropical regions,
but varies much in habit. The characters given above and the glabrous leaves in
vernation and the stipes bring the fossil more distinctly near to the Australian than to any
other of the representative types of the species.

Although rare or absent in the Eocenes, Gleic/rem'as are abundant in the supposed
Neocomian and Upper Cretaceous rocks of Greenland. Heer has separated the
fragments into sixteen species, although the greater part, when compared with G. glauca}
their nearest existing representative, seem to come well within the limits of variation of
that species at the present day, even if specimens from one locality only are examined.
The presence of the genus in these high latitudes is repeatedly alluded to by Heer as
indicating a former approach to a tropical climate in the Arctic regions. Yet Glez'c/zem'as
now flourish in the rigorous climates of the Magellan and Falkland Isles, S. lat. 53°,
which have an isotherm of 45°, and are also found on the mountains of Tasmania and on
the Andes at an altitude of 10,000 feet, which Humboldt places at the level of gentians
and near the limit of arborescent vegetation. It is instructive to notice that While the
fossil Glez'c/zenia of the Eocene of our latitude has its nearest ally in the distinctly tropical
G. die/lawma, the living representative of all the Arctic forms should be the only one
still ranging into the northern temperate regions in China and Japan.

2. ADIANTUM APALOPHYLLUM, Saporta. (Page 42.)

The British fossil examples are detached pinnae of small size, like those found at
Sézanne, but preserving in some instances the arrangement of the sori. They differ from
the existing European species in thefilinear instead of obversely reniform arrangement of
the sori, and in being dimidiate, yet no species bears a greater general resemblance to them
than A. Capillus- Vienerz's. A. formosum, from the Arctic Neocomian, supposed by Heer to
be an Adiantum with small simple reniform fronds, has the stem and appearance of one of
the Ginkgos, which are everywhere characteristic of the secondary rocks in those regions,
nor was anything advanced to support his view. No certain Addam‘um is known from
the Polar Tertiary flora, and but mere indications of it from the Miocenes of Europe. The
Oligocene of Armissan has, however, yielded a portion of a frond with nearly fifty cuneate

1 G. longissz'ma, Hooker, ‘ Synop. Filicum.’

62 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

segments, bordered along their upper margin with sori, which Saporta sees reason to refer
to Lindsaya.l ‘ i

3. HEWARDIA REGIA, Elf. & Gard. (Page 42.)

This is perhaps the most remarkable form obtained from Bournemouth, and is quite
distinct from any other Eocene Fern. The largest specimen measures 5 inches across,
and is probably an entire frond. The only existing Fern resembling it is Hewardz'a
Wz'lsom', from Guatemala, belonging to a section of Adiantum characterised by anasto-
mosing venation. There are but four species of Hewardz'a known, all of them almost
peculiar to the Equatorial and Central America. The fossil differs enough, however,
from even its nearest known ally to entitle it to be considered an extinct type.

4. PTERIS EOCJENICA, Elf. & Gard. (Page 32.)

This form, widely spread in beds of Tertiary age, in the temperate regions of Europe
and America, resembles Pierce crezfz'ca and other existing allied forms of Ptem’s. Fossils
from other localities falling into this group have received many separate names upon such
characters as the toothing of the margin and the angle and forking of the veins,2 yet
may possibly belong even to the same species.

P. eocwm'ca is, perhaps, the best type of the species, which should, under whatever
name, include all the forms with pinnae, whether entire or toothed, whiCh have veins
running for the most part at a rather obtuse angle with the midrib, simple to twice-
forked, and not too crowded together. Other distinct Tertiary species are known, such as
P. gladifolia of Ludwig, with extremely closely-set parallel veins, resembling .P. pellucz'da
of the Philippines, but the group needs revision. No examples, it is important to notice,
of this type seem ever to have existed in any Arctic flora, although they are so abundant
everywhere in the beds approximating to the same ages in temperate zones.

1 Gervais, ‘Mém. de l’Acad. de Montpellier,’ vol. v, p. 311, pl. x, fig. 1.

2 In the ‘Flora Tert. Helvetica’ the same form appears as P. parscklugiana, P. Gaudz’m', and
P. pennceformz's, the first being separated on account of its occasionally twice-forked veins, notwith—
standing that the figure of P. pennceformis has also twice-forked veins, and because its pinnae
are partially denticulated. The value of the second specific character is shown by the fact that,
While in China and Japan, P. cretica is generally deeply toothed, it is found in many other regions with
a perfectly smooth margin. P. Gaudim' is only separated because it is somewhat smaller. There are
many other forms which, judging by the published illustrations and descriptions, may possibly have to be
included, such, for instance, as Oemunda eocaam‘ca.

EOCENE FERNS. 63

5. PTERIS BOURNENSIS, Eli. & Gard. (Page 33.)

This is rather an unsatisfactory species, and should be included with a large number
of other so-called species from the Tertiaries. These forms when united would be an
even more extensive group than the last, and, unlike it, are met with fossil in the far north.
It seems to figure under at least five names in the ‘ Flora Helvetica,’ and is almost equally
well represented in Austria and France. By omitting a trifling character, Heer unites
a specimen from Atane with one of the Swiss forms. The living P. agmfina, to which
it is allied, is found, not only in all temperate zones and in the Tropics, but, like the
fossil, passes into the Arctic Circle. Owing to the variability of the pinnm the living
Fern also has an extensive synonomy.

6. WOODWARDIA? VENOSA. Ett. & Gard. (Page 41.)

The British fossil species is founded upon a small fragment, barely sufficient to show
that, if truly belonging to Woodwardia, it differs completely from the better-known
fossil form and falls into the group of Lorinseria, Pres, of which W. areolaia, Moore, a
native of the United States, from Massachusetts to Florida, and W. Harlandz'z', Hk., from
Honkong, are the only existing types. Unger’s Aquitanian species, W. Raessnerz'ana,
from Austria and. Switzerland, is known from fine specimens with venation and sori
beautifully preserved, and, together with very similar forms from the Lignitic Eocene of
America, belong to the monotypic group of Ewwoodwardia. They agree almost precisely
with W. ma’icans, which still inhabits Southern Europe, Northern India, Java, Japan,
California, Mexico, and Guatemala. The same species has been found in the Pliocene of
Meximieux and in the Quarternary of Madeira. Woodwardz'tes arcticus, of Heer, from
Greenland, is transferred to Onoclea (page 68).

7. GONIOPTERIS BUNBURII, Heer. (Page 38, under name PHEGOPTERIS.)

This species represents a type which appeared in Europe in the Middle Eocene, and
survived until the Miocenes,1 but has not yet been met with in any of the Arctic or
American fossil floras. It is distinguished from the next and far commoner type by its
.angulated and much anastomosing veins. It apparently closely approaches some of the
varieties of G. diversz'folium and G. tetragonum, of Brazil, but the persistent absence of sori

1 G. polypodioides and G. Oem'ngense appear identical with it.

64 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

renders it more probable that it may belong to Strut/160129868, a section of Onoclea, with
similar venation, in which the fertile fronds are separate and of a kind not easily
preserved. The venation is also met with in Acrostic/mm and Negp/crodz'um, one species
of the latter, N. améoz’nmsc, resembling the fossil almost as much as the Gom’opterz's-
mentioned.

8. GONIOPTERIS STIRIACA, Uwyer. (Page 39.)

This and a number of similar species, most of which need not have been separated,
are distinguished by their pinnatifid or distinctly crenate pinnae, and by curved, instead,
as in the former species, of angular secondary veins. In the Bovey and some other
instances all the secondary veins anastomose, in others fewer, or the lower pair only.
The attachment of the pinnae to the rachis and the sori to the pinna is remarkably con-
stant, even in small fragments. In England it has only been collected at Bovey Tracey,1
but in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, and America, numerous specimens have been
found and sometimes described as distinct species. On the other hand, it may be doubted
whether the specimens from the extreme north, as Cape Lyell and Atanekerdluk, are
really the same.

The venation is of a type common to many genera among Ferns, and, like that of
G. Bzméum'i, occurs in Acrostic/mm and Nep/arodz'um, but in the present case the
arrangement of the sori lends support to our determination. Unger considered that it
most resembled G. proZ/zfcmm, but there are species which even more nearly approach it,
and the form and venation recur in several genera.

9. PHYMATODES POLYPODIOIDES, Eff. & Gard. (Page 29, under genus PODOLOMA, Err.)

No Polypodium with reticulated venation has previously been met with fossil in such
excellent preservation. It is strictly confined at Bournemouth to a local bed, in which
the pinnae abound, lying flat and in layers, having been articulated and deciduous. They
so resemble dicotyledonous leaves as to have induced some scepticism with regard to
their classification, but comparison with existing Ferns, especially with those indigenous.
to Tropical America, such as P. yemz'natum, P. stigmaticum, P. @copodioides, and
P. persicarz'd’folz'um, places its position beyond all reasonable doubt, and also shows the
genus Podoloma to be unnecessary. It appeared especially remarkable from the fact
that the reticulations converge round the sori (Pl. XII, fig. 10), but an examination

1 The same species may be represented at Bournemouth by the pinna described as Plzegopterz‘s 12m-
cuspidata.

EOCENE FERNS. 65

of the upper surfaces of the fronds above the sori of P. yeminatmn and the other species
named, shows that this peculiarity is shared by them in an identical manner. In texture
and every other comparable character they are the same. Only slight traces of this group
have been met with elsewhere. The form named Glossoc/ilamys appears also, from more
perfect specimens (Pl. XII, figs. 8, 8 a), to be an Acrostic/mm, allied perhaps to A. Pres-
Zz'ammz, Hk., A. variaéz'le, Hk., and A. nicotianwfolz'um, Swz.

10. CHRYSODIUM LANZASANUM, Visicmi. (Page 26.) “

The Species is one of the most distinctly characterised of all the Eocene Ferns, and
so closely resembles 0. aureum as to be indistinguishable from it, except that in luxuriant
fronds from the Middle Eocene the pinnae are sometimes more decurrent than has been
observed in the living species. It has been found abundantly in the Lower, Middle, and
Upper Eocenes, or Oligocene in England, and in similar beds in France and Austria.
The existing species is spread over almost the whole coasts of the Tropical and sub-
Tropical World and prefers sea air. The pinnules seem to decrease in size from Lower
to Upper Eocene, but no good specific distinction is apparent.1

11. OSMUNDA HEERII, Gaudz'n. (Page 53.)

This species may be said to be almost indistinguishable from 0. regains. It has not
been found fossil in England unless Osmundfles Dow/rem, from the Thanet Sands, be its
stem. It appears as early as in the supposed Neocomian Komeschichten of Greenland, as
0. petiolata, and may probably be united with Ferns of even older rocks. It next
occurs in the supposed Upper Cretaceous of Atanekerdluk, as 0. Heerz'z' and 0. 0667-
gz’ana? It has also been found in the Eocene Lignitic of America, the Aquitanian of
Switzerland, the supposed Miocene of Manchuria and Greenland (?), and the Quartenary
of Madeira.

1 The late M. Watelet’s collection from the Gres du Soissonnais having come into my possession,
I am able to state that Lygodz'um crassicostatum, Wat., and L. capillare, Wat., figured, Plate xiii,
“ Plantes fess. du Bassin de Paris,’ appear to be merely fragments of C. Lanzceanum. The indistinctness of
the specimens, which are in a coarsely-grained matrix, and the possession of a dried frond of a Lygodium
with anastomosing venation and somewhat similar outline, doubtless led to their otherwise unaccountable
reference to that genus.

2 There seems a possibility, from the figures and descriptions published by Heer, that Asp'lem'um
Boreycma, A. Nordstrwmz‘, and Pecopterz's Pfafiana, may be but a smaller variety of it, since the only
supposed marks of sori mentioned among any of the latter were found on a single small specimen, and
stated to be very indistinct.

66 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

The present range of 0. regalz‘s is from Sweden to Siberia, Japan, Azores, Bombay,
Cochin, Hong-kong, Africa, and from Canada to Rio. Unlike 0. javam'ca, the fronds of.
0. regalz's attain their greatest luxuriance in moist, temperate regions, such as Ireland,
and decrease in size towards the Tropics. Its absence from our Eocene beds (except
possibly from the Thanet Sands) is very significant.

12. OSMUNDA LIGNITUM, Giebel. (Page 49.)

This is a species of somewhat limited vertical range common in the Middle Eocenes

of Central Europe, France, and England, where specimens have been found in profusion,

It is indistinguishable by any specific character from the existing 0. javam'ca, and the
expediency of giving it a separate name is very doubtful.

Osmundajavanica is a magnificent species inhabiting the East Coast of Asia, from
Kamschatka to Java and Sumatra; more than sixty degrees. It attains in the latter
countries a luxuriance unknown elsewhere, some pinnae collected by Beccari in Sumatra
measuring 9 inches in length, by 1% inch broad, while the pinnae of plants from farther
north, especially from Kamschatka, do not exceed 4 inches in length, and are only% of an
inch broad. It is in the more average-sized pinnae from Formosa, latitude 24°, that
we meet with the most absolute identity, as far as the fragments admit of comparison,
with our fossil form.1 If the size of the pinnae actually decreases progressively with
the isotherm, as appears to be the casein the large series at Kew, this fossil, from
its identity with the existing species, may be of use in determining our Eocene
temperature. It is remarkable that the most luxuriant fronds from Java and Sumatra
have simple margins, while the smaller northern forms become usually more or

less deeply serrated. The greater luxuriance attained by it in southern habitats shows

it to be an essentially tropical form, while as fossil it has never been found in northern
latitudes : nor either recent or fossil in any part of America. It seems to be met with in
Europe in Middle Eocene and Oligocene times, and no case is yet known to me of its
occurrence in beds of much later date, notwithstanding that Saporta places its horizon in
the Miocene.

1 The longest pinna in my collection, an imperfect one, measures nearly six inches and nine-tenths in
length.

”Mm

     

,; UN xvi—2128117 67

‘ ~ °F moms“

EOCENE FERNS.

 

13. ANEMIA SUBCRETACEA, Sapon‘a. (Page 45.)

Anemia suécreiacea is very abundant and well preserved, and in one instance nearly
an entire frond was obtained from Bournemouth. It seems essentially characteristic of
the older Eocene, and even pre-Eocene Rocks, and has never been found in horizons
higher than that of Bournemouth in Europe, and the lowest stage of the Great Lignitic
in America. To the same group belong, without doubt, the Fern described as Asplenium
Jo/msimpz' and A. Dielesmzz'anum, Heer, from the Cretaceous Komeschichten of Greenland,
and Asplem'um Farsterz', from Aix-la-Chapelle. They possess the same strength and
peculiar dichotomy in the stipes and vernation, the same graceful cutting in the leaves and
easy flowing venation, the same universal absence of sori, plainly indicating that they
could not belong to Asplenium. A. Nordenslcz'dldz' and A. layperborea may be smaller
species belonging to the same genus, and Sp/zenopteris eocem'ca of Europe and America
should certainly be linked with it.

These varieties might be united into at most two or three species. The larger, 3.
singularly well-marked form, ranged from the South of France to the Arctic regions,
though, perhaps, not synchronously, and first appears in the Cretaceous, and somewhat
suddenly disappears in the Middle Eocene. It bears no very striking resemblance to any
existing Fern, but the one most like it is Anemia adiam‘g'folz’a, indigenous to America from
Florida to Mexico and Bahia. The fossil form appears to have attained its greatest
luxuriance in the Eocenes of temperate latitudes, and there is a marked difference in this
respect between the average of our specimens and those from the Arctic regions.

14. LYGODIUM KAULFUSSI, Heer. (Page 47.)

The fossil is found in Central Europe, France, England, and the United States, and
is essentially a Middle Eocene Fern. A smaller and somewhat modified form seems to
have preceded it in the Cretaceous rocks of Aix-la-Chapelle. L.palmazfum,1 indigenous
to Massachusetts and Florida, approaches it closely in some respects, but the Eocene
form was very much larger in the barren pinnae, and the fertile pinnae were much smaller
and even more deprived of parenchyma. While possessing several characters of
L. palmatum, it far more resembles Tropical species, such as L. dic/loz‘omum in size and
general mode of growth. No species of Lygodium have been met with among the
Arctic fossil flora.

1 It is remarkable that all the fossil Lygodia belong to the section of L. palmatum. The barren
fronds of the species found at Bournemouth are large compared to those from other Eocene, Oligocene,
and Miocene localities, yet no differences are perceptible between any of them in the fertile fronds.

11

68 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

The discovery, subsequent to the publication of our description, of fertile fronds of
Lygodium with very short and completely separated pinnules, closely resembling in
their appearance and disposition the specimen described with some doubt as Aspleniles
prw-allosuroides, has convinced me that this supposed species is only an example of the
fertile frond of Lygodium, with exceptionally abbreviated pinnules. The thick car-
bonized substance and consequent indistinctness of this and of the original Asplem'tes
allosuroz'des from Sotzka, is entirely in favour of this View, and both species must,
I think, be referred to this species.

15. MARATTIA HOOKERI, Ett. (ff Gard. (Page 54.)

Mammal Ifoo/ccrz' has only been detected at Alum Bay, Where it is by no means
rare (Pl. XII, figs. 1—6). It appears to be closely allied to M. Kaulfussz'z', of the West
Indies, Columbia, and the Brazils ; more particularly resembling it when the fronds are
not fully developed. M. Kaulfussz'z' is the only species belonging to the group Eupodium,
separated on account of its shortly stalked synangia without an involucre. N0 fossil
Marattia was known previously, and no other Fern is known from Alum Bay, unless it be
Anemia subcrez‘acea, which Heer states to have been found there.1

16. ONOCLEA HEBRAIDICA (Forces). Plate XIII, figs. 5 and 6.

FILICITES HEBRAIDICUS, Forbes. Quarterly Journal Geological Society, vol. vii, p. 103,
pl. ii, fig. 2, 1851.

ONOCLEA SENSIBILIS, L., Newbewy. Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist., N. Y., vol. ix, April, 1868.

WOODWARDITES ARCTICUS, Hear. Flora fossilis arctica, vol. i, p. 86, 1868.

0. fronde pimzm‘a, pimzz's oblongz's veZ Zineam'éus, pinnatgfidz‘s, [052's rotundaz‘z's, denticu-
latis vel infegerrz'mis ; nervatione Dictyopteridis COI/“lpOSHQ emappendz’culatw, nervo
primam'o suérecz‘o prominente, nervz's secuna’ariis tenm’éusflewuocz’s, angulo acuto egredz'en-
iz'bus ; nerm's tertz'arz'z's brevissz'mz's dictyoa’rom's, maculz's Dicz‘yopteridz‘s 2—3 seriatz's,
inwgualz'éus.

From the Ardtun Beds, Mull.
The material upon which the description of this Fern is based consists of the apex of

1 This and C. Lanzaemzum are given in Baron Ettingshausen’s list of the Alum Bay flora, I think in
error, as neither Keeping nor myself have, after years of collecting, ever come across them, and no
specimen of either Fern from that locality is now preserved in the national collections.

EOCENE FERNS. 69

a frond and numerous smaller fragments. The section Euonoclea, of the small genus
072001361, L., with which we have identified it, is represented by a single species, 0. sen-
siéz'lz's, a large herbaceous dimorphic Fern, with copiously anastomosing veins, belonging
to the tribe Dicksonieae of the sub-order Polypodiaceae.

The pinnae in fig. 5 are simple and not divided to the rachis, the lobes bluntly
rounded and but slightly cleft, the margins undulated as in the existing fern ; their full
length is not preserved, the breadth is three quarters of an inch.

To judge from existing species, the frond may have been of large size, with the pinnae
simple, decurrent near the apex, and slightly stalked towards the base. The membrana-
ceous fronds seem to have been quickly destroyed by maceration, for, with one exception
(fig. 5), only fragments (fig. 6) are known. They occur in a black shaly matrix, and
are therefore not easy to trace out, while the undulations of the pinnae have become pressed
into folds in places, rendering the venation confused.

The rachis is moderately thin, the midribs of the pinnae slender, and the veinlets fine
and decided. The venation of fig. 5, accurately enlarged at 5a, is the less common
type, and anastomoses less than is usual in the existing species. The primary veins
are seen to leave the midrib at an angle of about 60°. The veinlets are unequal and are
more numerous and important above the primary vein, or nearer the apex of the pinna
than below it. The lower veinlets start from near the base of the primary vein of each
group and unite with the next, forming a series of angulated areolations on each side of
the midrib. Nearly all fork once, sometimes twice, and are continuous to the margin
which is slightly denticulate. Some veinlets unite with those of the same, and others with
those of contiguous groups for short distances, and then again diverge, forming oblong,
angulate, or ovate meshes, which vary greatly in size. In fig. 6 a the anastomosis is more
frequent and complicated, the veinlets on the lower side of the primary vein being almost
entirely absorbed in the system of meshes proceeding from the upper side. This, by
far the more abundant type of venation, is reproduced exactly in the existing species.
Similar variations were noticed among the American fossils. '

Known from Mull, from the Fort Union group of Dakotah, and from Greenland,1 this
Fiarn differs strikingly from others of the European Tertiaries. It is found everywhere
in a lacerated condition, and presents great variability in its venation. Specimens
brought by Mr. Whymper from Greenland were also figured by Heerf’ and should now
be in the British Museum, though I am unable to find them. Their identity with the
Mull Fern is considered certain by Saporta ,3 and if, as the plates show them to be, the

1 ‘Flora fossilis arctica,’ 1868, vol. i, p. 86, described as Woodwardites arcticus from Atanekerdluk.
2 ‘ Phil. Trans,’ 1869, p1. x1, fig. 6.

3 The Marquis de Saporta, in a letter received since the text was in type, points out its resemblance
to Pleocnemia, a group of Aspidieae.

“.Votre Fougére de Mull Filicites hebraidz'cus est effectivement identique avec le Woodwardz'tes
arcticus de Heer ; il suffit pour s’en convaincre de comparer les figures du ‘ Flora fossilis arctica ’ avec les

I

70 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

veinlets are in groups they cannot be placed in Woodwardz‘a. Another and more abundant
Fern, bearing a resemblance to it when figured, has been described in the same work as
Pecopterz's, Hemitelz'tes, and Osmzmda Torellz'z', but the specimens themselves show the
Fern to have been of stronger and coarser growth.

Onoclea fiebmz'a’z’ca is, as pointed out by Newberry, almost identical with the existing
species. This is a monotypic form inhabiting the United States from Florida to
Canada; Northern Asia, Amur, Japan, and Manchuria. It also somewhat resembles the
more tropical genus Pleocrzemz'a.

The specimen (Pl. XIII, fig. 5) had already been figured by the Duke of Argyll in the
‘ Journal of the Geological Society,’ and briefly described by Prof. E. Forbes as “part of
a frond, probably that of a Fern, but presenting some anomalous features which future
specimens will probably explain. For the present it may be called Filicz'tes (?)
fiebmz’dicus.” Our etching represents the venation in a clearer manner than the litho-
graph referred to, but conveys the undulating habit less accurately. Fig. 6, selected from
a large number of specimens in the Hunterian Museum of the Glasgow University, was
found by Mr. Koch in 1880.

 

The preceding notes embrace all the distinctly characterised species except
Memja/ayllum elegans, on which no additional light can yet be thrown, and therefore
even its claim to be considered a Fern seems doubtful. On the other hand, one of the
forms, very imperfectly figured (Pl. II, fig. 6), and placed among the “ Filices incertw
sedis,” may prove a fragment of a coniferous leaf, possibly of Dammara.

The Ferns already mark the distinction that exists between the floras from above and
from below the London Clay, the few fragments from the latter belonging to quite
different forms. The Bournemouth flora alone has furnished examples of every Fern
met with in England from above the London Clay, except the Marattia, that is supposing

votres. Vous pouvez donc les identifier et tirer de cette identification les résultats qu’elle comporte. Elle
pourrait entrer dans les genres Aspidium et Phegopteris, et presqu’ au méme titre ; mais il faut remarquer
que les Phegopteris ne sont réellement que des Aspidium dont le tégument avorte, et, sans fructification
ivous ne pouvez arriver a une determination plus précise.

“ Vous avez d’une part l’Aspidium Leuzeanum, Kunze (A. coadunatum,Wall., ‘ Ett. Farnkraiiter,’ pl. 128,
fig. 6), d’autre part vous avez le Pliegopteris macrodonta, Mett., et le P. Brongniarti, Mett. ; avec ces derniers
le rapprochement est encore plus frappant a cause de l’extréme analogie du réseau veineux. J’ajouterai
encore comme indice que parmi les espéces inédites des Gypses d’Aix (éocéne supérieur) je posséde une
belle empreinte de 'penne de Fougere qui me parait se ranger fort naturellement dans ce méme genre
Phegopteris, non pas précisement a cété de la v6tre mais tout auprés du Plzegoptem's prolifera, Mett. La
figure de cette espéce dans l’ouvrage d’Ettingshausen, tab. cix, fig. 2, est une reproduction presque exacte
de mon échantillon, que je nomme Phegopteris provincialis, mais que je n’ai encore ni décrit ni figuré.”

EOCENE FERNS. 71

the pinna described as Pfiegopterz’s [am-cuspz'data to be identical with Gom’qpterz’s stirz'aca,
which I now think probable, and setting aside Pteris(?) Hoe/ceri (Heer. sp.), which
may be but the drawing of the enlarged lateral pinna of Pteris eocwm'ca. It is very
remarkable that of all these only one is found passing either into the Lower Bagshot or
the Upper Eocene. Only three species are met with in the older beds at Bournemouth,
six are added in the middle beds, five of which disappear in the upper beds and are
replaced by three others.

It appears as if we had now a nearly complete knowledge of at least the Ferns of the
Bournemouth stage, whose stations were woodland or marsh, for, though work during the
past two years has multiplied, and in some cases produced finer specimens, no new type
has been brought to light. This concluding part of the monograph on ‘ British Eocene
Ferns,’ though enabling several corrections to be made, only adds one species, and this,
not because it has been newly discovered, but in view of the extreme probability that the
Scotch and Irish Tertiary plants are of Eocene age.

We are able, in addition, to figure some more perfect and larger specimens of
Osmunda, Plate XIII, figs. 1, 2,3, 4, a dwarf frond of Lygodz'um (fig. 8) from the
same, and a specimen of Gom’opt‘erz's Bzmburz'z' (fig. 7) from Lough Neagh.

The Ferns already published furnish data of considerable value, and indicate how
much we may expect to learn from the remainder of the flora. Among them, three are
peculiarly important through the ease with which they can be identified, for each is scarcely
distinguishable from an existing and widely distributed species, yet like no other in the
world. There is thus absolutely no shade of doubt about either the authenticity of their
determination or the close relationship they bear to a sharply defined existing species.
No more definite data could well be imagined, and it may be instructive, even at this
early stage, to reflect upon what these and other Ferns teach, before commencing a new
subject. One of these cannot be separated by any specific character from the existing
Clarysodz'um aureum, a magnificent plant with dark glossy foliage, inhabiting preferably
swampy places, and almost confined to tropical or sub-tropical regions. A description
by Mosely1 of its growth in Bermuda reads like a restoration of the Eocene period at
Bournemouth. “ The most refreshing and beautiful vegetation in Bermuda is that
growing in the marshes and caves. The marshes or peat bogs lie in the inland hollows
between two ranges of hills. These bogs are covered with a tall, luxuriant growth of
Ferns, especially two species of Osmuna’a (0. cinnamomea and 0. reyalz's). Some Ferns
are restricted to particular marshes. In some Acrostic/mm aureum grows2 densely’ to a
height of from four to five feet. Together with the Ferns grow the juniper, which
thrives in the marshes, and a palmetto, which gives a pleasing variety to the foliage.”

The species seems to have arrived with the sudden increase of temperature apparent
in the London Clay period, for its pinnae are massed together in the Lower Bagshot at

1 ‘A Naturalist on the Challenger,’ p. 23.
2 A name preferred to Chrysodz'um, in Hooker’s ‘ Synopsis Filicum.’

72 BRITISH EOOENE FLORA.

Studland. It maintained its ground during the physical changes of the Middle and
Upper Eocene and Lower Oligocene ages, and only migrated away during the lower
temperature that accompanied the deposition of the Hempstead beds. Its absence from
Alum Bay and the older Bournemouth beds shows that these stations were unsuited to
it, probably through want of moisture, while it was excluded from the otherwise suitable
swamps of Bovey1 through the higher elevation of that district during the Eocene, and
from the swamps of Hempstead, Where a palmetto still grew, by decrease in temperature.
The localities from which it is absent, no less than those in which it is present, show
that this part of England must have been almost on the confines of its range, and the
minimum temperature of our Middle Eocene and Lower Oligocene may be gauged to
some extent from it.

The second Fern is so completely identical with the existing Osmzmda javam’ca, that
it seems merely misleading to continue to use a separate specific name for the fossil
pinnee. Notwithstanding its abundance in both a recent and fossil state, its identity
remained unrecognised for twelve years by Heer, who speaks of it in 1869 as Hemil‘e—
lites, closely allied to H. Torellz', of Greenland. There is little to add to our former
description, though its late arrival and speedy migration from England are both
remarkable. lts present range from Kamschatka to Java shows that it might have
withstood, better perhaps than most tropical species, a change of temperature, and,
indeed, the relatively small size of the pinnae at Bovey, prove that it supported there a
lower temperature than in the swampy tracts at Bournemouth, Where the pin-um reach
nearly twice the size. Its occurrence from the oldest to the newest beds at Bourne-
mouth, shows that it existed throughout our Middle Eocene and was not specially
localised, so that its absence at Hordwell, Gurnet Bay, and Hempstead, where many of the
associated plants of Bournemouth and Bovey survived, seems a reality. Like the
C/irysodz'um it must, with its Cycas-like growth, have formed a conspicuous feature in
the swamp vegetation of Bournemouth. Though apparently strictly a Middle Eocene
Fern with us, Saporta states that it is confined to the Oligocene in the South of France,
a dryer atmosphere and soil doubtless excluding it from the Eocene of Aix in Provence,
while farther east, the strata in which it is found seem even newer. From this visible
migration eastward it might almost be inferred that it reached its present habitat, the
extreme east of Asia, and the islands to the south, from the westward, and incidentally
that it failed to penetrate into Hindustan2 on its route on account of some impassible
barrier. It seems likely that this Fern may be useful in fixing the age of plant remains
in England, and perhaps also in the South of France, though it must not be inferred
from its presence that deposits in different countries are contemporaneous, since, as
a still existing species, it might occur in any tertiary or quarternary deposit where

1 Bovey-Tracey is eighty miles distant from Bournemouth, and situated among hills, whence some of

the Eocene river sediment was probably derived.
2 It is only met with in southern India.

EOCENE FERNS. 73

sub-tropical plants are found. From a comparison of the relative size of recent pinnae
from different latitudes with those of Bournemouth and of Bovey, the difference in
temperature and consequently of elevation between the two stations might be gauged
the more safely from the persistency with which the average size is maintained at each
locality. Want of heat evidently excluded it, like the Clarysoa’z'um, from the Scotch, Irish,
and all Northern Eocenes, though in a stunted form it is now acclimatised in Kamschatka,
while the absence of both from the entire series of Swiss Tertiaries, shows that
unsuitable conditions continuously prevailed there.

A third Fern, Onoclea lleéraz'dz'ca, from the basalt formation of Mull, is equally
identical with a living species. A discovery made during the progress of this work,
while still leaving the true age of this formation somewhat a matter of doubt, shows so
conclusiVer that the North British and Irish Tertiary floras are a continuation of the
Eocene floras to the south, that to omit them in this work would be to omit a clue
which may render possible the solution of the most interesting problems connected with
past and present plant distribution.

The floras from the Eocenes below the London Clay are remarkably homogeneous in
England, and present relatively few species. They are, as long since pointed out by Sir
J. Hooker in the case of the Reading plants, of remarkably temperate aspect, the leaves
and fruits of Pia/fame being conspicuous, among a number of undetermined prevailing
types. This flora is sufficiently similar to that from the Greenland Tertiaries collected
by Mr. Whymper, and different to other Tertiary floras, to show that a close relation-
ship must have existed between them. The inference from this is obviously that as
temperature increased during the London Clay period the old temperate indigenous
flora of our latitudes was driven as far north as Greenland, where it must have remained
until a diminution of heat again enabled it to descend. The effect of the convergence
for so long a time, of perhaps very dissimilar floras from different longitudes towards the
land areas of the pole, consequent on a general rise of temperature in the northern
hemisphere in Eocene time, would be to mingle the floras of three continents; so that
when they redescended, quantities of new forms would almost certainly appear in each
area. During nearly the entire Eocene period they were probably continuously modified
in the direction of existing trees, and in that sense species no doubt did originate near the
pole, as Saporta claims, and when they reoccupied the temperate latitudes of Europe it
was as a Miocene flora. The recognition of an Eocene temperate flora in our latitudes,
and consequently of a period when arctic conditions prevailed at the Pole similar to those
of the present day, explains the universal break in the sequence of floras between
Cretaceous and Tertiary, noticed all round the Arctic circle, and is also a considerable
step towards a comprehension of the past and the existing plant distribution of the northern
hemisphere. It fixes for the first time the ages of the Arctic Tertiary floras, and'limits
the period during which they could possibly have grown there to between the London Clay
and the close of the Oligocene. The Mull and the Antrim floras are intermediate between

74 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

the closely-allied English Lower Eocene and Greenland Middle Eocene floras, and they
possess species in common, not only with these but with the warmer Middle Eocene flora
of the South of England, and therefore must be assigned on plant evidence to an age inter-
mediate between these periods. They must, in fact, be relics either of the passage of the
Lower Eocene flora north, or of the descent of the Miocene flora south, or else the
permanent Middle Eocene flora of those latitudes. Against the former supposition we
have the occurrence of the flora in many localities in both Ireland and Scotland,
rendering it unlikely that they all were deposited in so limited a period as that in which
the change in temperature can be proved to have taken place, even if the mixture of
Middle Eocene forms from the south among them were not conclusive. Against the
second supposition we have the appearance of immense antiquity presented by the basalts,
and the dissimilarity of these floras to those of the European Miocenes. It must be
remembered that there is no stratigraphical or other evidence whatever, except the floras,
as to the ages of the Scotch, Irish, Icelandic, or Greenlandic plant deposits, though the
colossal denudation of the basaltic formations in which they are enclosed, had led many
independent observers to assign to them a far greater antiquity than the plant evidence
has hitherto seemed to warrant.

07200180. fiebmidz'ca occurs fossil at Mull, at Greenland, and in the Fort Union group
of Dakotah, and it still exists unchanged as Onoclea sensicz'lz's in the United States and
on the temperate east coast of Asia. It might therefore be found among any Tertiary or
more recent assemblages of fossil plants in countries in which it still lives without
affording a clue to their age, and it would therefore be useless to endeavour to make its
presence a test of the real age of the Fort Union group. Professor Newberry, however,
made its occurrence in the American Tertiaries the basis ofvspeculation which it. now
seems desirable to challenge, as the more recently ascertained distribution may be equally
well read in a different sense. He considered that since this and other species, at that
time common to the Old and NBWVWOI'ldS, have disappeared from Europe, while they
continue to flourish in America, it. would follow that these were American types which
had colonised Europe by migration, and that when their connection with the mother
country was severed they were overpowered and exterminated bythe present flora of
EurOpe, which Prof. Gray has shown to be mainly of north Asiatic origin. The occur-
rence of Onoclea sensibilis on the Island of Mull, while it has not been found in the
Tertiary beds of other parts of Europe, indicated he believed not only an American
connection during the Miocene period, but an American origin for that species. We
need not here follow Prof. Newberry further, as the remainder of his essay is based on
the community of American and European Miocene genera, a question not directly
connected with the present subject, but it is only necessary to point out that if the
Onoclea occurs in older rocks in Europe than in America, as well as in the intervening
Greenland, the evidence, so far as it goes, favours the theory of its migration north from
Europe to Greenland during the warmer Eocene, and south from Greenland to America

EOCENE FERNS. \75

during the cooler Miocene, thus giving it a European origin. Its existing distribution in
Asia and America entirely favours the theory that it spread from the Greenlandic centre,
and its occurrence at Mull only traces its origin still farther back, to Eocene Europe.

The following very valuable remarks by Prof. Newberry1 supplement our knowledge of
this Fern :—“ The collection of Dr. Hayden contains a great number of examples of this
beautiful Fern, showing the upper and under surface of the frond, the variation of form of
the pinnae of different fronds, and different parts of the same frond. The robust habit
of this plant, the strong, waved and reticulated nervation, and broadly waved rachis,
which seem to distinguish it at a glance from all known fossil species, suggested a
comparison with some of the strong-growing tropical Ferns; and it was only after a
laborious examination of all the genera of exotic Ferns contained in the herbaria to which
I had access, or described by authors, that I was led to turn my eyes nearer home. The
common form Orzoclea sensz'éz‘iz's grows abundantly in all parts of our country, and is one
of the first plants collected by the youthful botanist. In this we have the rachis of the
frond more or less winged, and a nervation on the same general plan with that of the
fossil before us, but more distinctly reticulated. By this I was at first misled, but in
examining Dr. Torrey’s var. obtusz'loéaz‘a, I found in some specimens the exact counter-
part of our fossil in the lobation of the pinnae and nervation. The gradation of characters
in this variety is very great and interesting. In some specimens we have a distinctly
bipinnate frond; the pinnae composed of numerous remote, even obovate, pinnules, and
the nervation not reticulated, the nerves of the pinnules radiating and forked, but never
joining.” The agreement in character with our fig. 5 is very remarkable, and but for
these remarks I should have remained ignorant of the existence of a living representative
of this variety of our fossil species, for no examples are preserved in the Kew Herbarium.
Prof. Newberry continues :—“ This is the extreme form, but even here the rachis of the
frond is more or less winged. In an intermediate form we find the rachis winged, the
pinnae deeply lobed, and precisely the nervation of the fossil. Even in the common form
.the nervation is similar in plan, and the elongated spaces, destitute of nerve branches, on
either side of the rachis of the pinnae, form a noticeable feature in both. There is little
room for doubt, therefore, that during the Miocene age a species of 072001661 flourished in
the interior of our continent, of stronger habit than either of the living varieties, and
holding a middle position between them. This fact suggests the question, whether they
could not have been differentiated from it.” ‘

“Varying, as the living Onoclea does, in the size, outline and nervation of the sterile
frond—from six inches to three feet in height, from a finely reticulated to an open,
dichotomous nervation; from a bi-pinnate frond with remote, obovate pinnules to a
pinnate form with wave-margined pinnae and broadly alate rachis—it plainly includes
all the characters of the fossils before us, and I therefore find it impossible to separate
.them.”

1 ‘Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N.Y.,’ vol. ix, p. 39, April, 1865.
12

76 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

This description applies equally to the Mull form, about fifteen specimens of which
I have examined. They, except fig. 5, were all found by Mr. Koch in 1880, and include
facsimiles of the forms of lobation and venation seen in the existing species, while their
texture and preservation led me to anticipate a living representative with mem-
branaceous fronds and fine, distinct black veins. The fertile fronds, as in nearly all
Ferns in which these are separate and unexpanded, are unknown fossil, and we have here
the only pretext which can possibly be held to justify the continued separation of the
Tertiary forms of at least the C/Lrysodz'um, 0871225726161 and Onoclea just described, from the
surviving species.

The distribution of the Bournemouth Glez'c/eem'a is at present the most restricted of
any fossil Fern that has been met with at all plentifully, for it is absolutely confined to the
small local patch near which it grew. Its peculiar climbing growth has been sufficiently
described and is no longer met with in living GZez'c/zem'as. The Anemia, a graceful and
well-marked Fern, seems a survival from the Cretaceous period, since extinct, and to have
been descended from a northern pre-eocene group. From the plants with which it is
associated at Bournemouth, it appears to have been epiphytal, occupying the same
position that the not very dissimilar Davallz'a does in the moist and luxuriant forests of
Madeira at the present day. The Lygodz'um, associated with it at Bournemouth.
undoubtedly occupied similar stations. It possessed larger and more variable fronds
than the American species most resembling it, and which seems to have become but
recentlyacclimatised to the temperature it now supports in the United States, since it
would probably otherwise have been found in some of the more northern Eocene fioras.
The much smaller size of the fronds in the Swiss Miocene show, perhaps, that a change
was even then in progress. The Hewawlz'a, a remarkable form of Adiarztum with
anastomosing venation, probably possessed habits analogous to those of A. rent/0mm at
present. It, like the Anemia, Lygodz'zmz, Jlfaratfz'a, P/rymaiodes, and several others, can
only be looked upon as extinct species, whose resemblance to tropical American, rather
than to any other living species, is a fact that acquires significance through the accumu-
lation of instances.

The only Ferns among them resembling existing European species are Pterz's eocmzz'ca,
P. Bozarnerzsis, and Adiantmn apalop/Lylhmz, but the wide range and the number of species
contained in the corresponding types at the present day, render it difficult with our material
to identify them more definitely with one than another. The Gom'opz‘erz's section of the
Polypodiew, of which three species were described, would perhaps be more correctly repre-
sented by two, through the union of G. pra-cuspia’am and G. szfz'rz'aca. The latter had
apparently a northern range, though the remains are not very distinct, and from the
variation among them it is possible that several species or genera are included under the
same name. The British species was able to thoroughly establish itself at Bovey-Tracey,
but not, so far as we yet know, elsewhere in either England or France, though it
abounded in Switzerland. G. Bzmburz'z' is easy to identify notwithstanding that the vena-

EOCENE FERNS. 77

tion is of a usual type. From its restricted vertical range at Bournemouth, and its
presence at Bovey, it might be inferred that the former locality marks almost its extreme
southern range at that time, while northward it reached to Antrim, which may also have
been near its limit, since it is apparently absent at Mull. It was evidently a woodland
and not a marsh Fern, and its exclusion from Hordwell and Hempstead on this supposition
is natural. The importance of the discovery of the Irish locality lies in the fact that it
helps to link the Bournemouth Eocenes with those of Antrim, which are themselves linked
to the Greenland Tertiaries. I have re-engraved (Pl. XIII, fig. 7) the original specimen
figured by Mr. Baily in the ‘ British Association Reports ’ for 1880, pl. 2 fig. 1. It was
found in an ironstone pebble among silieified wood on the shores of Lough Neagh,
and though undescribed, the name of Ifemz'teliz‘es Frasem' is attached to it.

All these species are obviously divisible, through the plants associated with them, into
marsh Ferns and woodland Ferns, while some which have the greatest range were evidently
not entirely excluded from either station. Examples of the latter are the Clamsodz'um and
Osmzmda, remains of which occur in the greatest profusion, mingled with palmettos and
other swamp plants, but which are also found with distinctly forest vegetation. Examples
of woodland Ferns are the Lygodz'um, Anemia, the two Adiantums, &e. Ganiopterz's Bzm-
62m'z', a purely woodland Fern at Bournemouth, existed perhaps in a lower temperature with
a damper station at Bovey, while G. stiriacaluxuriated as a marsh Fern at Bovey, but has
only been met with once among forest leaves at Bournemouth. It will perhaps be safer,
however, to defer these and other inferences until more plants have been described. With
the exception of the last-named Fern and the 08m1mda, which we have seen shows
evidence of relatively lower temperature, the higher elevation at Bovey seems to have
excluded the contemporary Bournemouth Ferns, or rendered them rare.

While we apparently know much respecting the Ferns of the British Eocenes, com-
pared with what is known of those from the Tertiaries of other countries, several conside-
rations tend to show how insufficient and how incomplete is our grasp of the subject.
The present inability to explain the restricted range of so many Eocene Ferns, such as Pfiy-
matocles, for which there is no apparent reason, the absence of any trace of such widely
distributed and ancient forms as Dicksom'a, Asplem'um, Lomam'a, and Todea, throughout
almost the whole Tertiary period ; the failure to detect any trace of the fertile pinnae of
so many and such comparatively abundant Eocene Ferns, and the vague knowledge
possessed of some other forms, renders the present portion of our work far from
satisfactory, and has shown the necessity of a more attentive consideration than it has
received.

In comparing our fossils with those of other countries in Europe, we see that even
the Ferns may afford some clue to the relative sequence of many of the plant-bearing
beds, whose ages cannot be ascertained stratigraphically. The presence, in the Cretaceous
series of Aachen, of J urassic types, now confined to distant isles, indicates their relative
antiquity. The presence of a portion of the least archaic of the Aachen types at Sézanne,

78 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

and the absence of all but the oldest of the Bournemouth types, mark out roughly the
age of a deposit, further distinguished, alone among Eocene floras, by the presence of'
tree Ferns, referred by Saporta to the genera Hemiz‘elz'a and Cyat/zea,‘ and interesting
because existing tree Ferns do not penetrate farther north than the moist valleys of the
Himalaya. The flora. of Gelinden contains no Ferns common to our Middle Eocene, but
may be found to present affinities with our Lower Eocene flora. The Gres du Soissonnais/
posssesses a flora approching that of Alum Bay, and Clam/sodium Lanzwamm is common
to it and to our Lower Bagshot. The distinctly Middle Eocene types first appear in
France in the Eocene of Aix, many of them, however, being kept away, probably through
a dry climate, until the beginning of the Oligocene. Without pursuing these comparisons-
further, it is evident that our Eocene and Oligocene Ferns appeared in a definite order,
and are, when contrasted with those of the rest of Europe, singularly tropical and
luxuriant, suggesting, indeed, that England was then situated in the line of Some warm
current or under exceptionally favorable meteorological conditions.

In comparing the Eocene Ferns with those of the Arctic regions, the absence there
of all the sub-tropical types met with in England is very striking. The absence of '
Adiam‘um, for there is nothing in the Adianfz'z‘es of Heer to prove affinity with Adiantum,
shows the nature of the climate, for one species now ranges as far north as the J ura, Tyrol,
and south-west of England, where it withstands considerable frosts, while others are found
at a height of 6000 to 8000 and even 9000 feet in the Himalayas. Equally significant
is the absence of the type of Pferz's cocmzz'ca, for it is present in nearly all similar beds in
Europe and America, and is now but little less hardy than Adiamum, standing even severe
frost, and extending, according to Hooker, to 9000 feet in. the Himalayas. Another
instance is seen in Woodwardz'a radicmzs, a type of which abounded in the Tertiaries
of Austria, Switzerland, and America. The gradations in temperature were then, in fact,
as pronounced as they are in some equally separated temperate latitudes at the present
day.

In comparing them with the Tertiary American Ferns, we find two even among the
very few yet described from the Great Lignitic series, which are certainly specifically
identical with our own, and these are the two oldest types. They are also accompanied
by representative, if not identical, species of the following European Tertiary Ferns :—
Sp/zenopteris eocwnica, Pierz’s pennaformz’s, Woodwardz'a Rdssnerz'ana, Gom'opz‘erz's
slim'aca, and Osmunda Heem'z'. - It is thus remarkable that the Eocene Ferns of America
are much less tropical in aspect than those of Europe at the same period, and con-
sequently more resemble those of the Miocene of Europe. The temperature of the
western hemisphere seems to have remained colder throughout the Tertiary period than
ours, and hence its floras seem to have preceded ours, and present a relatively newer
facies. While it is just possible that these Ferns may have passed over, or descended

1 A pinna of Osmunda ligm’tum was figured, ‘Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.,’ ser. 4, Jan., 1869, vol. iii, p1. i,.
fig. 5, by Mr. A. Wanklyn, with the remark that it seemed allied to some genus of Cyatkece.

EOCENE FERNS. 79

from, northern latitudes, the knowledge we already possess of the Arctic and North
American fossil floras effectually takes away every ground for supposing that the strong
relationship between the Neo-tropical Fern flora of the present day and that of our
Eocene could have been due to any land communication north of latitude 50°.

The relationship of our own Eocene Ferns to the present subtropical American flora is
apparent from the fact that of seventeen types all but one are known in it. A connection
less in degree is seen between them and the Ferns of Eastern Asia and Java, where six
only of the types are absent. Scarcely any of the Middle Eocene types have remained in
Europe, except Plan‘s creiz'ca and Adiantzmz, for those related to Osmunda regalz's and
Woodwardz'a radiccms seem only to have reached Central Europe from the north during
the Miocene. _ The Eocene forms of Mamh‘ia, Anemia, Gleic/lcm'a, P/iymaz’odcs, and
Hewardz'a were the first to disappear, and it is remarkable that these happen to differ
most widely from their living representatives. Few of the present European Ferns can
be traced back to fossil ancestors, even among those of the Arctic regions, while they
seem so closely connected with the living Ferns of North America, that of our thirty-six
British species, all except three of Nep/lrodz'miz and Asplem'um [anceolatum and A.
yermanicum, also exist there.

No more is sought for than to claim for such inferences and conclusions as have
been arrived at, that they seem warranted by the results of the work so far.
There are, however, in all probability living Ferns still undiscovered, and we are as yet
certainly acquainted with but a fraction of the Eocene Fern world. Still, however incom-
plete the data for interpretation may be, the possibility that something may come to light
in the future to change or modify Views based upon our present knowledge, does not
deprive them of current value. The interest attaching to these Ferns is increased by the
fact that while the higher orders of plants from the Tertiaries have formed the basis for
much speculation as to former temperatures, distribution, &c., the inferences to be drawn
from Ferns have hardly been taken into account.

Amidst inference and hypothesis, the fact at least is certain, that there is no real break
between Eocene and Miocene floras when they are traced over many latitudes. The sup-
posed Miocene floras of the Arctic Circle are, we shall see, but modified temperate Eocene
floras which had migrated north when warm conditions set in, and which redescended
south, still further modified, when the decrease of warmth during the Miocene again per-
mitted them to do so. The results that followed the forced convergence towards the land
areas of the Pole of perhaps very dissimilar floras from long separated lands of different
longitudes, through a general increase in the Eocene temperature of the Northern hemi-
sphere are as yet faintly sketched and perplexing, but with patience they can be unravelled.
At present it can only be stated that when they redescended as Miocene fioras, they were
greatly modified and enriched in genera and species. '

 
   
   

, UMVERSITY ,.
' 0‘ CALIFC‘N‘"

 

    

  

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INDEX OF FOSSIL SPECIES.

 

(The accepted British fossil species are in italics, the rest are synonyms or closely allied foreign species .)

 

Acrostichum, p. 28 ; see also Chrysodium.
Adiantum apalophyllum, pp. 42, 57, 61, 76, pl. x, fig. 1 ; pl. xii, fig, 7.
,, formosum, p. 61.
Anemia Kaulfussi, p. 47.
,, subcretacea, pp. 45, 58, 67, 68, 76, pls. viii and ix.
Aspidium lignitum, pp. 50, 52, fig. 23.
,, Meyeri, p. 50.
Asplenites allosuroides, pp. 35, 68.
,, prae-allosuroides, pp. 34, 68, pl. iii, figs. 1, 2.
Asplenium Dicksonianum, p. 67.
,, Foersteri, pp. 47, 67.
,, hyperboreum, p. 67.
,, Johnstrupi, p. 67.
,, Martinsi, p. 47.
Nordenskiéldi, p. 67.
,, subcretaceum, p. 45.

Blechnum Braunii, p. 33.
Chm/sodium Lanzaanum, pp. 26, 58, 65, 76, 78, pls. i, ii, figs. 1—4.

Didymosorus, p. 59.
Dryandra rigida, pp. 50, 52, fig. 22.

Filices incertae sedis, pp. 55, 56, fig. 27, pl. ii, fig. 6 ; pl. x, fig. 7; p1. xii, fig. 9.
Filicites hebraidicus, p. 68.
Fortisia Lanzaenum, p. 26.

Gleichem’a Hantonensis, pp. 43, 57, 59, 76, p1. vi; pl. 3, figs. 2—4.
Glossoclzlamys transmutans, p. 3] (Acrostichum ?, 65), pl. iii, fig. 3 5 pl. xii, fig. 8.
Gom'opterz's Bunburii, pp. 38, 39, 57, 63 (Struthiopsis ?, 64), 71, 77, pls. v, x, figs. 9, 10; pl. xiii, fig. 7.
,, stiriaca, pp. 37, 39,58, 76, 78, figs. 17—21. '
Gymnogramma Gardneri, p. 28.
,, Haydenii, p. 45.

82 BRITISH EOCENE FLORA.

Hemitelia, p. 51.
Hemitelites Fraseri, p. 77.
,, Torellii, pp. 70, 72.
Hewardia regia, pp. 42, 57, 62, 76, pl. ii, fig. 5; pl. vii, fig. 2; pl. x, fig. 6; pl. xi.

Lastraea Bunburii, see Goniopteris.
,, dalmatica, p. 40.
,, Helvetica, p. 39.
,, stiriaca, see Goniopteris.
Lindsaya, p. 62.
Lygodium exquisetum, p. 48.
,, Gaudini, p. 49.
,, Kaulfussz', pp. 47, 58, 67, 71, 76, pl. vii, except fig. 2; pl. x, fig. 11; pl. xiii, figs. 8, 9.
,, neuropteroides, p. 47.
,, parvifolium, p. 48.

Marath'a Hookerz', pp. 54, 58, 68, 76, 79, pl. xii, fig. 1—6.
Meniphyllum elegans, pp. 36, 70, pl. iii, figs. 10fi14.
Mertensites crenata, p. 43.

,, Hantonensis, p. 43.

Onoclea hebraidica, pp. 68, 73, 74, 76,'pl. xiii, figs. 5, 6.
,, sensibilis, pp. 68, 74.
Osmzmda Dowkeri, pp. 50, 53.
,, eocaenica, p. 33.
,, Grutschreiberi, p. 50.
,, Heerii, pp. 58, 65, 78.
ligm’tum, pp. 49, 66, 71, 72, 76, 77, fig. 24; pl. iv, figs. 1—3; pl. xiii, figs. 1—4.
,, Obergiana, p. 65.
,, petiolata, p. 65.
,, . Torellii, p. 70.
Osmundites Dowkeri, pp. 50, 53, 65.

Pecopteris angusta, p. 49.
crassinervis, p. 49.
Hookeri, pp. 33, 54, fig. 25.
,, Leucopetrae, p. 49.
lignitum, pp. 39, 49, 50.
,, Torellii, pp. 52, 70.
Phegopteris Bunburii, p. 38.
,, Helvetica, p. 37.
,, polypodioides, p. 37.
,, prae-cuspidata, pp. 37, 71, 76, pl. iv, figs. 8, 9.
,, stiriaca, see Goniopteris.
Phymatodes polypodz'oz'des, pp. 29, 58, 64, 76, 79, pl. iii, figs. 4-6, 9 ; pl. xii, fig. 10.
Podoloma afine, p. 30, pl. iii, figs. 7, 8.
,, polypodioides, pp. 29, 58, 64.
Polypodites stiriacus, p. 39.

INDEX OF FOSSIL SPECIES.

Pteris Aquensis, p. 34.
,, Bournensis, pp. 33, 57, 63, 76, pl. iv, fig. 7.
,, caudigera, p. 34.
,, eoccenica, pp. 32, 57, 62, 71, p1. iv, figs. 4—6; pl. xii, fig. 11.
,, erosa, p. 32.
,, Gaudini, pp. 32, 54.
,, gladifolia, p. 62.
,, Hookeri, pp. 54, 71, fig. 25.
,, (Eningensis, p. 34.
,, parschlugiana, pp. 32, 54.
,, pennaeformis, pp. 27, 32, 54, 78.
,, Presth'chz'i, p. 53, p1. x, fig. 8.
,, pseudopennseformis, pp. 33, 54.
,, subsimplex, p. 32.
,, urophylla, pp. 27, 34.

Sphenopteris eocaenica, pp. 67, 78.
Woodwardia Roessneriana, pp. 41, 57, 63, 78.

,, venosa, pp. 41, 63, pl. x, fig. 5.
Woodwardites arcticus, pp. 63, 68.

INDEX OF LIVING FERNS.

PAGE
Acrostichum aureum, fig. 11 . 27, 57, 58, 65, 71

,, nicotianafoelium 65

,, Preslianum 65

,, variabile . . . . 65
Adiantum capillus-veneris . ' . . 42, 57, 61

,, reniforme . . . . 76
Anemia adiantifolia . . . . 47, 58, 67
Aspidium macrophyllum V 31

,, pachyphyllum 31

,, trifoliatum 31
Asplenium dimorphum . 56

,, expansum 38

,, germanicum 79

,, lanceolatum . 79

,, Ottonis . . . 38
Chrysodium aui‘eum, see Acrostichum aureum.

,, vulgare, see Acrostichum aureum.
Cyathea 78
Davallia 76
Diplazium . . . . . . 38
Grleichenia dichotoma . . . . 44, 57, 59

,, glauca 61

,, pectinata 44

,, hardy species . . 61
Goniopteris proliferum . . . . 41, 58, 64

,, diversifolium 57, 64

,, tetragonum 64
Gymnogramma leptophylla . 35

,, villosa . . . . 37
Hewardia Wilsoni . . . . 43, 57, 62
Lindsaya sagittata . 43
Lorinseria . . . . . . 41, 63
Lygodium dichotomum . . . 67

,, palmatum . . . 49, 57, 58, 67
Marattia Kaulfussii, fig. 26 . . . 55, 58, 68
Meniscium longifolium, fig. 14 36

 

PAGE

Mertensia . 44
Nephrodium amboinense 64
,, British species . 79
Onoclea sensibilis 69, 74
Osmunda cinnamomea . 38, 71
,, Claytoniana . . . . 38

,, Javanica ‘ 52, 57, 58, 66, 72

,, regalis . 53, 58, 71, 79
Pellaea . . . . 35
Phegopteris cuspidata, fig. 15 37, 38
Phymatodes geminatum 58, 64
,, hemionitideum 29, 31

,, lycopodioides, fig. 12 . . 29, 64

,, persicariaefolium 29, 64

,, salicifolium 29

,, stigmaticum . 64

,, transparens 29, 31
Pleocnemia 70
Polypodium bifrons 56
,, serpens . . 56
Pteris aquilina . 34, 57, 63
,, crenata, fig. 13 . . . 32

,, cretica 32, 57, 62, 79

,, decurrens . 41

,, denticulata 41

,, heterophylla 35

,, patens 41

,, pellucida 62

,, scaberula 35

,, Woodwardioides . 41
Struthiopsis . 64
Tbyrsopteris 35, 46
Woodwardia areolata 41, 63
,, Harlandii . . . . 63

,, radicans 41, 57, 63, 78, 79

GENERAL INDEX.

PAGE

Aachen, see Aix-la-Chapelle.
Aix-la-Chapelle 9, 33, 34, 45, 47, 49, 67, 78
Aix, Provence 28, 34, 45, 48, 78
3, 13, 16, 55, 68
3, 47,65, 67, 69, 78
5,74, 77
Aquitanian beds . . 27,28, 32, 41, 52, 65
Arctic fossil floras, 8, 56, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 73, 74,

Alum Bay flora
American fossil flora
Antrim flora

78, 79
Armissan . . . . . . . 61
Atanekerdluk . 40, 64, 65
Australian flora . . . . . . 2
Bagshot flora, see Flora of.
Bembridge flora 3. . . . . . 20
Bournemouth flora . . . 16
Bovey flora . 5, 18, 38, 39, 47, 50, 54, 72, 73, 77
Bowerbank . . 4,12, 14
Bracklesham . . . . . . 13
Brodie, P. B. . . . . . . l3
Bromley . . . . . . . 10
Carruthers . . 7, 16, 28, 31, 35
Céreste . . . . . . . 49
Classification, Ettingshausen’s . . . 22
,, Hooker’s 57
Corfe flora . 4, 13, 16
Cretaceous flora . . . . . . 7
,, see also Arctic floras.
Crié . . . . . . 48
Dakota beds . . . . . . 2
De Bey 33, 4:7, 49, 59
De la Harpe . 10, 14
Difficulties in determination . . . 4
Disappearance of Eocene flora . . . 7
Dixon’s Geology of Sussex . . . . 15
Dulwich . . . . . . . 4

 

Flora of Bagshots

,, Lower Bagshot

,, London Clay .
Middle Bagshot
Oldhaven beds
,, Thanet beds
Upper Bagshot
,, ,, Eocene.
Woolwich and Reading beds
Forbes, Edward
Fort Union beds .
Gelinden .
Greenland, see Arctic floras.
Grés du Soissonnais

,, de la Sarthe.

Headon flora
Heer .
Hempstead flora .
Hooker, Sir J.
Hordwell flora
Irish Eocenes, see Antrim.
Keeping, Hy. .
Komeschichten, see Arctic floras.
Lesquereux .

PAGE

. 12

. 3,16
3, 11, 71
. 3,16
10

19
19

. .29
4, 13, 20
69, 74
33, 78

78

48

19

. 19, 28, 72
20, 72

9, 31, 56, 73
20, 28

3,28, 47,48

Lignitic of America, see American foss. floras.

Lindley and Hutton
London Clay
Lough Neagh
Lower Bagshot
Manosque
Mantell
Middle Bagshot
Monte Bolca

,, Promina
Mull flora

. 9
. 3,11

71, 77

. 3,16

. 19, 27, 33

. 13

. 3,16

. . 14

27,28, 33,41
5,69,73,74

86 GENERAL INDEX.

PAGE
Newberry 68, 74
Newhaven flora . . . . .. . 9

' Oeningen . . . . . . ., 15
Oldhaven flora . . . . . . 2, 10
Pengelly . . . . . . . 20
Prestwich 9, 13, 53, 56
Reading flora 9, 56, 73

Salter . . . . . . . l4
Saporta 2, 27, 28, 32, 33, 46, 47,49, 69, 72, 78
‘ . . 2, 42, 47, 77

48, 52

Se’zanne

Skopau

 

Sheppey fruits
Sotzka
Studland
Stur .
Thanet beds flora .
Upper Bagshot flora
,, Eocene flora
,, Oligocene .
Venation, classification by
r Watelet

Woolwich and Reading flora .

 

PRINTED BY J. E. ADLARD, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.

PAGE
11
35,68
16, 26, 28, 72
. 35
9, 53, 65
19

19

49

22

. 48
2, 9, 53

 

PLATE I.
FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT BEDS, BOURNEMOUTH.
C/wysodz'um Laflzwanum (Visiani).

Fig. 1.. A unique specimen, With pinnae attached. (Gardner Collection.)

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PLATE II.

FROM THE LOWER BAGSHOT BEDS OF STUDLAND, AND THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT BED

Fig. 1.

OF BOURNEMOUTH.
Cling/sodium Zanzwanum (Visiani).

Fragment of a pinna, from Bournemouth.

1 a. Portion of the venation, magnified.

2.
2 a.
3.
3 a.
4.

0!

Terminal pinna, from Bournemouth.

Portion of the venation, magnified.

Apex of a pinna, with unusually close venation, from Studland.

Part of the same, magnified.

Fragment of a pinna, from Studland, with few anastomosing ternary veins.

(All the above from the Gardner Collection.)

Filices incerm sedz's.

Adiantum? (From Mr. Pender’s Collection.)
Leaf with Cyclopteris venation. (British Museum.)

 

 

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. The same enlarged, showing bases of attachment of the sori. (Gardner

PLATE III.
FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT BEDS, BOURNEMOUTH.
Asplenites pra-al/oswoz'des, Ett. and Gard.

Part of frond, magnified. (British Museum.)

. The specimen, natural size. ,,

Glossocfilamys transmulans, Ett. and Gard

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Podoloma polypodioz'des, Ett. and Gard.

. A pinna, of average size.

. A shorter pinna.

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(Gardner Collection.)

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A small pinna, nearly perfect.

The base of a larger pinna.

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A portion of the venation, magnified.

Slightly shrivelled pinna. (Gardner Collection.)

     

 

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PLATE IV.
FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT BEDS, BOURNEMOUTH.
Osmuna’a Zzym'z‘um (Giebel).

Pinna, natural size.

The same, magnified.

A small pinna, natural size.

A pinna, natural size. (Gardner Collection.)

Ptem's eoccem'ca, Ett. and Gard.

Portion of frond, with pinna attached to the rachis, natural size. (Gardner
Collection .)

Terminal portion of a stunted frond, natural size. (From the Collection of
Mr. A. Baldry.)

Terminal pinna, average size.

. Part of the same, magnified. (Gardner Collection.)

Pleris Bournensz's, Ett. and Gard.

Pinna with pinnules, natural size.

. Part of the same, magnified. (Gardner Collection.)

Pfiegopterz'spra-cuspz’dczm, Ett. and Gard.

A unique pinna, natural size.
Portion of the reverse of the same specimen.

9 a. Part of the same, magnified. (Gardner Collection.)

PLATE N

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PLATE V.
FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT BEDS, BOURNEMOUTH.
Pfie‘goptem's Bunbzm'z', Heer.

Fig. l. A young plant, natural size. (Gardner Collection.)

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PLATE VI.
FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT BEDS, BOURNEMOUTH.
Gleic/zem'a Hantonensz's (Wanklyn).

Fig. 1. Portion of pinna. (From Mr. Wanklyn’s Collection.)
2. Another specimen showing the apex. (From Mr. Fender’s collection.)
3. Another, showing the base of the pinna. (From Mr. Wanklyn’s collection.)
4, 5, 6. Details of above magnified, showing variations in the venation and pits left
by sori. (Figs 4 and 6 Mr. Wanklyn’s Collection, fig. 5 Mr. Pender’si)
7. The apex of a pinna. ‘
8. Part of the stipes.
9, 10. Fragments with hook-like tendrils.
11. Tendrils and vernation. (Figs. 7 to 11 in Gardner Collection.)

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PLATE VII.
FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT, BOURNEMOUTH.
Lyyoa’ium Kaulfzgssz' (Heer).

Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5, 7. Pinnw of various sizes.

8. Pinna; the specimen should have been an inch longer, and only a part is
engraved. '

6. Portion magnified to show venation.

Hewardz'a regia, Ett. and Gard.

2. Fragment for comparison With Lygodium.

(The above in the Gardner Collection.)

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PLATE VIII.
FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT, BonRNEMOUTH.
Anemia subarezfacea, Saporta.

Fig. I. Part of a large pinna.
2. A small pinna.
3, 4. Portions enlarged from different parts of frond for comparison of venation.

(The above in the Gardner Collection.)

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PLATE IX.
FROM THE‘MIDDLE BAGSHOT, BOURNEMOUTH.
Anemia suécretacea, Saporta.

Figs. 1, 3, 5. Fragments of pinna. (Gardner Collection.)
4. Parts of pinnules. (Mr. Pender’s Collection.)
2. A large frond, reduced to one fourth the natural size. (Gardner Collection.)

PLATE IX.

   

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Fig. 1.

PLATE X.
FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT, BOURNEMOUTH.

Adiantum apalop/zyllzzm, Saporta. (Gardner Collection.)

. Part enlarged.

Glez'cfiem'a Hantonensz's, Wanklyn, showing hooks and foliage attached, and sori.

. Enlargement, showing two sori to each set of veins.
. A sorus magnified.

Pinnae with sori.

Pair of hooks, with fragments of the midribs of pinnae attached. (Figs. 2 to 4
in Woodwardian Museum.)

Woodwardia venom, Ett. and Gard.

. Enlargement. (Gardner Collection.)

Hewardz'a regia, Ett. and Gard.

. Enlargement. (Gardner Collection.)

G0722'0pter2's* Bunézm'z', Heer. A nearly entire pinna.

. Enlargement of the venation,

Venation of another pinna enlarged. (Gardner Collection.)
Lygodz'um Kaulfussi, Heer. Fertile frond. (Mr. Baldry’s Collection.)

FROM THE OLDHAVEN BEDS, BROMLEY.

31"
Fragment of Fern, undetermined.

. Enlargement. (Gardner Collection.)

FROM THE WOOLWIOH AND READING BEDs, COUNTER HILL.

Ptem's Presiwicfiz'z', Ett. and Gard.

* Termed Phegopz‘eris on p. 38.

 

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PLATE XI.
FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT, BOURNEMOUTH. _
Hewardia regia, Ett. and Gard.

Fig. l. A magnificent specimen, showing marginal sori.
2, 3. Parts of smaller pinnae.
4. Portion enlarged, showing anastomosing venation.

(Gardner Collection.)

 

PLATE 31-

      

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PLATE XII.
FROM THE LOWER BAGSHOT, ALUM BAY.

Figs. 1—6. Mamizfz'a Hookem', Ett. and Gard. (British Museuml).
2 a and 4 a. Apices of pinnae enlarged. -
4 6. Part of pinna enlarged.
6 a. Enlargement from a specimen showing secondary venation.

FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT, BOURNEMOUTH.

7. Adiantum apalopfiyllwm, Saporta (British Museum).

8. Glossoc/elamys transmumns, Ett. and Gard. (British Museum).

8 a, '8 6, 8 c. Enlargements, showing position of sori.

9. Fern fragment, indeterminable (British Museum).

10. Podoloma polypodz'oz'des,'Ett. and Gard. Enlargement of veins beneath sorus.

11. Pteris eoceem'ca, Ett. and Gard. Fragment showing the relative proportion of
terminal and lateral pinnw (J ermyn Street Museum).

11 a. Enlargement.

1 The specimens marked “ Gardner Collection ” in this work are now in the British Museum.

   
  

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PLATE XIII.

FROM THE MIDDLE BAGSHOT, BOURNEMOUTH.

Figs. 1, 2, 3. Osmunda Zzym'tum (Giebel, sp.). Terminations of pinnae (British Museum).
. 4. Full size frond, showing base, part only figured.
I a, 3 a, 4 a. Enlargements. '
8. Lygodium Kaulfussz', Heer. Dwarfed, barren frond (British Museum).
9. Simple frond, which when perfect tapered to a narrow base.

FROM THE ARDTUN BEDS, MULL.

5. Onoclea fiebraia’ica (Forbes, sp.). Part of frond near apex (Jermyn Street
Museum). I

5 a. Enlargement.

6. Fragment (Hunterian Museum, Glasgow University).

6 a. Enlargement.
FROM THE ANTRIM BEDS, LOUGH NEAGH.

7. Gom‘opz‘eris Bzméum'z', Heer (Geological Survey Collection, Dublin).
7 a. Enlargement. ' '

 

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