374 ORIGIN OF THE 
mediately preceding epoch in the history of our earth. Although ex- 
amples may be quoted of existing species being found in old strata, 
it follows, from what has been stated before, that such species need 
not have survived the great convulsion of nature to which the present 
state of things succeeded ; for if we take for granted that the same 
species may have been created simultaneously at different places, it 
may equally have been created at different periods. 
5. If we assume, as I think we are warranted in doing, that the 
present vegetation has sprung up at different times, our next inquiry 
will be, Which, among the existing species, are of an older, and which of 
a more recent creation ? Since we are acquainted with the different geo- 
logical formations, may we not, in like manner, arrive at a knowledge of 
the different vegetable formations? In order to attain this knowledge. 
itis desirable to advert to the external conditions, under which th 
different floras of the present formation, or its phyto-geographical king 
doms, have originated; and likewise to the structure and characte: 
of those kingdoms. Let us first, by way of experiment, take the fora 
of the Alps; that is to say, that vegetation which occurs on the Alps 
above the tree-limit, and under the snow-line. This flora is eminently 
characteristic, as compared with that of the plains and mountains of 
the middle of Europe, for which, as my type, I propose taking the 
flora of Germany, in the sense of the German botanists, comprising 
the Litorale,* Istria, and Southern Tyrol,f and placing the foot of 
the Alps and lower hills in direct contrast with the higher Alps, or 
what is called the Alpine region. 
Now, if we consider the external conditions of this flora, that is, the 
geological features, we know from E. de Beaumont’s researches, that 
the principal chain of the Alps is more recent than the rest of the 
European mountain ranges, since it has been formed during the latest 
upheavings of importance, and even after the diluvial formation; and, 
further, that the range which that author calls the Western Alps 
is of quite recent origin, subsequent to all the tertiary formations. - 
_ This younger formation affords grounds for the probability, that the 
|. vegetation is, in like manner, of a more recent date, at least, that part 
.. of the flora of the Alps, which exists nowhere else ; first, because the 
..* T presume, the coast from Fiume to Dalmatia.—N.W. 
+ It is scarcely necessary for me to observe, that in any other inquiry this combi- 
nation-of the Mediterranean flora with those of Germany and central Europe could 
not by any means be entertained. 
