[164] See vol. ii. Excursion to the Isle of Sheppey.

Mr. Parkinson has given admirable figures of several of the Sheppey fruits, particularly of the large palm-like nuts, called "petrified figs" (Org. Rem. vol. i. pl. vi. vii. Pict. Atlas, pl. vi. vii.) M. Ad. Brongniart has named several in his Prodrome; but without figures the descriptions are useless to the student. Mr. Bowerbank has published two numbers of a work entitled, "History of the Fossil Fruits of the London Clay," with seventeen plates; from which I have selected a few subjects for illustration. The fruits described are the following:

1.Fruits having a downy structure, like the Cotton plant.
2.Cucumites. Seeds of plants of the cucumber family. [Lign. 63, fig. 1 and 3]. These fossil fruits so closely resemble the seeds of various members of the recent genus Cucumis, or Cucumber, comprising the Gourd, Water-melon, &c., both in outward form and internal structure, that there is no reasonable doubt of their belonging to plants of the same family; hence the name Cucumites or fossil cucumbers.
3.Cones of a tree allied to the genus Petrophila, of New Holland. [Lign. 63, figs. 2 and 8].
4.Seeds of the Bean family, some of which resemble those of the common Scarlet-runner. [Lign. 63. figs. 5, 6, 7].

Lign. 63. Fossil Fruits from the Isle of Sheppey.
London Clay.

Fig. 1. and 3.—Cucumites variabilis: fig. 3, is a vertical section, showing the seeds. [Lign. 64, fig. 6]—1/2 nat.
2 and 8.—Petrophiloides Richardsoni: 1/3 nat. Fig. 8, is a vertical section, showing the disposition of the seeds in the cells formed by the confluent scales—1/2 nat.
4.—Wetherellia variabilis: a section of the fruit, in which state it is called coffee-berry by the collectors—1/3 nat.
5 and 6.—Faboidea semicurvilinearis: fig. 5, side view—1/4 nat.
6.—Is the face of a similar seed—1/3 nat.
7.—Faboidea bifalcis: side view—1/3 nat.
9.—Nipadites lanceolatus: a, the seed; b, the shell, or pericarp—1/2 nat.
10.—Nipadites cordiformis: a, the extremity of the seed, imbedded in the shell—1/3 nat.
5.Wetherellia; pulpy fruits divided into two lobes by the expansion of the ripe seeds. As the section thus exposed bears some resemblance to a coffee-berry, these fossils are popularly called petrified coffee-berries. This genus has no known living representative. [Lign. 63, fig. 4].

6.Fruits allied to the Palm tribe. (Nipadites). [Lign. 63, fig. 9, and 10].
7.Fruits of leguminous plants, differing from any known recent. [Lign. 64, figs. 1, 2, 3, 4].
8.Seeds, allied to the Amomum, or Cardamom tribe. [Lign. 64, fig. 5].
9.Seeds of Cupressinites, or plants related to the Cypress.
10.Seeds resembling those of the Laburnum.
11.Seed-pod of a species of Acacia, or Mimosa. [Lign. 64, fig. 7.]—2/3 nat.