Abstract
LONDON Royal Society, March II.—“Report on the Fossil Flora of Alum Bay,” by Baron Ettingshausen. The materials upon which the report is based were stated to be in the British Museum, Museum of Practical Geology, Woodwardian Museum, and in Mr. J. S. Gardner's collections. The fossil flora of Alum Bay contains, according to the author, about 116 genera and 274 species belonging to 63 families. Of these genera 3 are said to be Thallophyta, 2 Filices, 5 Gymnospermæ, 6 Monocotyledons, 28 Apetalæ, 15 Gamopeulæ, 54 Dialypetalæ, and 2 indeterminable. A number of genera are enumerated which the author supposes to be common to Alum Bay and Sheppey, and hence he infers, as Heer did, that there is a close connection between the two floras. The small number of ferns and palms in comparison with the much greater number at Bournemouth and of palms at Sheppy is remarkable. Many of the dicotyledons are stated to show a genetic connection with miocene species, and a great number of the latter are seen to have originated as far back as the eocene. On the other hand some of the miocene genera were not completely differentiated into genera in the eocene period. Two examples are given: Castanea, which although perfectly developed in the miocene, is said to be only represented in the eocene by a castanea-like oak, uniting characters now distinctive of the two genera, and a Pomaderris-like Rhamnus, also seeming to unite two genera which were quite distinct from each other in the miocene.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 21, 555–556 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021555a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021555a0