Almost the only fossil remains in the Bagshot Sands are those of plants, but these are of great interest. In Whitecliff Bay the beds consist for the most part of yellow sands, above which is a band of flint pebbles, which has been taken as the base of the Bracklesham series, for in the clay immediately above marine shells occur. The Bagshot Sands, in Whitecliff Bay, are about 138 feet thick, in Alum Bay, 76 feet, according to the latest classification. In Alum Bay the strata consist of sands, yellow, grey, white, and crimson, with clays, and bands of pipe clay. This is remarkably white and pure, as though derived from white felspar, like the China clay in Cornwall. The pipe clay contains leaves of trees, sometimes beautifully preserved. Specimens are not very easy to obtain, as only the edges of the leaves appear at the surface of the cliff. They have been found chiefly in a pocket, or thickening of the seam of pipe clay, which for forty years yielded specimens abundantly, afterwards thinning out, when the leaves became rare. The leaves lie flat, as they drifted and settled down in a pool. With them are the twigs of a conifer, occasionally a fruit or flower, or the wing case of a beetle. The leaves show a tropical climate. The flora is a local one, differing considerably from those of Eocene deposits elsewhere. The plants are nearly all dicotyledons. Of palms there are only a few fragments, while the London clay of Sheppey is rich in palm fruits, and many large palms are found in the Bournemouth leaf beds, corresponding in date to the Bracklesham. The differences may be largely due to conditions of locality and deposition. The Alum Bay flora is characterised by a wealth of leguminous plants, and large leaves of species of fig (_Ficus_); simple laurel and willow-like leaves are common, of which it is difficult to determine the species, and there is abundance of a species of _Aralia_. The character of the flora resembles most those of Central America and the Malay Archipelago. [Illustration: PL. IV] Nummulites Laevigatus Turritella Limnaea Imbricataria Longiscata Cardita Planicosta (Fusus) Planorbis Leiostama Pyrus Euomphalus Cyrena Semistriata EOCENE AND OLIGOCENE