Fossil Flora of Œningen. (_Bd._ pp. 511-514).--The celebrated lacustrine tertiary formation of Œningen, whose fossil reptiles and mammalia we shall have to notice hereafter, contains a rich assemblage of dicotyledonous and gymnospermous ligneous vegetables, with a few ferns and grasses. Not only branches and leaves of a species of Vine[174] occur, but even the fruit; fossil grapes being found in these deposits;[175] there are also many aquatic plants. A descriptive list of these fossils, by Professor Braun, of Carlsruhe, is given by Dr. Buckland. The brown-coal of this basin is in thin beds of but little economical importance, but so rich in the vegetation of the miocene tertiary period, that a few days spent in collecting those treasures will amply reward the intelligent tourist who may visit Constance. (See _Wond._ p. 263.) [174] See Knorr, Mon. des Catastrophes, pl. xxxviii. tom. i. [175] Fossil grapes from the lignite of Œningen were exhibited by Dr. Daubeny at a late meeting of the Geological Society. [Sidenote: FOSSIL DICOTYLEDONOUS LEAVES.] The foliage of dicotyledonous trees frequently occurs in the Eocene marls and limestones, and in some localities in considerable abundance, and in beautiful preservation. Near Bournemouth, on the Hampshire coast, the leaves of many species are met with in a bed of sandy marl, between three and four feet thick: the vegetable substance is carbonized; some of the leaves are referable to the _Lauraceæ_ and _Amentaceæ_, others to the _Characeæ_;[176] a similar deposit of tertiary plants has been discovered near Wareham. These beds belong to the lower group of the Hampshire Basin.[177] [176] Geol. Proc. vol. iii. p. 592. [177] As the seed-vessels and other vegetable remains in the Isle of Sheppey are all of a tropical character, while those found in the Eocene strata of Alum Bay, Bournemouth, and Newhaven, are of a temperate climate, as Nerium, Platanus, &c., Prof. E. Forbes infers that the former were transported from distant lands by currents, and that the latter belong to the true flora of the country inhabited by the Palæotheria and other associated mammalia. [Illustration: Lign. 68. Imprints of Dicotyledonous Leaves in Gypseous Marl. _Tertiary. Stradella, near Pavia._ Fig. 1.--Leaf of Poplar (_Populus græca_). 2.--------- Maple (_Acer_). 3.--------- Water-spike (_Potamogeton_). 4.--------- Willow (_Salix_). 5.--------- Chestnut (_Æsculvs_). ] The red marlstone associated with lignite in the plastic clay beds at Castle Hill, Newhaven (_Geol. S. E._ p. 54), contains leaves of a similar kind; a seed-vessel of a coniferous tree has also been found in it.