182 Scientific Intelligence — Anthropology, 



The two genera Anomopteris and Scohpendrites are peculiar to 

 the gres bigarrL The genus Asterocarpus occurs in the coal 

 formation, and also in the Keuper, Pachypteris only in the Jura 

 series, and most of the species of Acrostichites and Polypodites 

 in the same formation. Fossil ferns of all formations, without 

 even excepting those of the chalk and the Molasse^ present a 

 striking resemblance to the tropical species of ferns, but none 

 to those of temperate and cold climates. One of the principal 

 conclusions to be drawn from the geological distribution of fossil 

 ferns is, that each formation has particular species, which differ 

 essentially from those of other formations. To this there are 

 very few exceptions. Silesia is remarkable for its extremely rich 

 fossil flora, for no less than 230 species have already been found 

 in that country. The fossil flora of England resembles greatly 

 that of Silesia. Excepting the genus Stigmaria, which is com- 

 mon to the transition and the coal formations, no species has 

 been found in two formations. Finally, it is remarkable that 

 dicotyledons and junci occur both in the most ancient and in 

 the most modern deposits, a fact which tends to prove that 

 there is little foundation for the opinion that at the earliest 

 epochs cellular plants only existed, afterwards monocotyledons, 

 and then at a later period dicotyledons. 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



12. Prospects of the Negro Population in South America^ 

 and of the gradual extinction of the original inhabitants of 

 the New World. — We behold (says the Foreign Quarterly) with 

 a conviction which no arguments can weaken, with a vivid- 

 ness of perception which no efforts of our own can soften, the 

 certainty of an impending and tremendous conflict between 

 the white and the negro, the coloured and the Indian popu- 

 lation, the fearful nature of which it is as easy to foresee as it 

 is awful to contemplate. Such is also the opinion of Dr Poep- 

 pig, who, in his account of Chili, has the following observa- 

 tions : — " No country in America enjoys, to such a degree 

 as Chili, the advantages which a state derives from an homo- 

 geneous population and the absence of castes. If this young 

 republic rose more speedily than any of the others from the 

 anarchy of the revolutionary struggle, and has attained a high 

 degree of civilisation and order, with a rapidity of which there 



