The existence of this tribe of plants during the secondary ages is known only by a single example of a fossil fruit, which was discovered by Mr. Page, of Bishport, in the Inferior Oolite, to the east of Charmouth, Dorsetshire, and is preserved in the museum at Oxford; no vestiges of the stems or foliage have been observed.
Lign. 65. Fossil Wood with Teredines; nat.
London Clay, Regent's Park.
| Fig. | 1.— | A polished transverse section, showing the tubes lined with spar. |
| 2.— | Portions of mineralized Teredines, seen in relief on the wood. |
This carpolithe, (for a detailed account and figures see Bd. p. 504, pl. lxiii.) is of the size of a large orange; the surface is covered with a stellated epicarpium, composed of hexagonal tubercles forming the summits of cells which occupy the entire circumference of the fruit. Each cell contains a single seed, usually hexagonal, resembling a small grain of rice, and is supported by a foot-stalk, formed of dense fibres; a character exhibited only by the seed-vessels of Pandanus. The fossil fruit differs from that of the recent Screw-pines in the seeds being neither inclosed in a hard nut, nor collected into drupes, but dispersed uniformly over the entire mass; this forms the essential generic distinction between them. Dr. Buckland has named this unique carpolithe Podocarya. (Bd. p. 505.)
Wood perforated by Teredinæ. [Lign. 65.]—The drifted trunks and masses of wood found in the London Clay, at Sheppey, Bognor, Bracklesham, &c., some of which belong to Palms, others to Conifers, and Dicotyledons, are commonly more or less perforated by the boring mollusks called Teredo, or Teredina; and remains of their testaceous tubes are often well preserved. The tortuous channels excavated in the wood by these borers, are lined or filled up with calcareous spar, indurated clay, or other mineral matter, of various shades of grey, blue, yellow, &c.; and the polished slabs of this fossil wood are beautifully diversified by the sections of the sparry tubes, crossed at right angles by the ligneous structure; as in the specimen [fig. 1, Lign. 65], from the Canal in the Regent's Park.[169]
[169] Slabs of this kind are generally kept by the lapidaries at Bognor, Worthing, &c. and sold at 2s. or 2s. 6d. each.
In the fossil, [fig. 2. Lign. 65], from the Isle of Sheppey, the tubes of the teredinæ are seen in relief, in consequence of the surface of the block of wood having decayed and been removed.
Fossil Liliaceæ.—The family of endogens, termed Liliaceæ, comprises many beautiful plants; those with annual stems, as the Lily, Hyacinth, Tulip, &c. are well known for the variety and splendour of their blossoms; some of the arborescent forms, as the Tulip-tree, attain a large size, but the flowers of this division are relatively small. In tertiary strata, the stems, leaves, fruits, and even the imprints of flowers, have been discovered, of plants related to Sagittaria (Arrow-head), Smilax (Bind-weed), Convallaria (Lily of the valley), &c.