OF m.'i'nsii (((i.iMinA .\.m> tiii-: noi.'Tii wmst. 31 



plaiiis DrMiukt'nzic Kivt'v, puhlislii'd :is ImIc ;is .Imu', 1S80,* still n>n'aids tlicm as Miocono- 

 As tlu' opinions ol" a pala'obotaiiist so riuiiuiit tlcsorvi' cari'lul atliiiiioii, il may 1»' \v<'ll to 

 I'xaniiuc tho r(>asons \vlii<h he givos. 



1. JIc alUvnis tliat noiio of tho specios occxir iii llu' I'loiciu' of Euiopi'. Hut the Eocene 

 of Emopc presents features distinct from those of any American Tertiary Flora, and depend- 

 inij; evidently on peculiar 2,vo<iTaphical conditions. Fnrtlier, Crairdncrand others hold that 

 Heer unduly limits the I'luropean Eocene ; and if ihcir views were established, the statement 

 made by Ileer would fall to the ground. 



2. i^everal of ihc |)lants are common to the' Laramie beds and to tlie so-called Miocene 

 of Saghalien, of Alaska, and of Greenland. With respect to the former, there is reason to 

 suspect that the 8at>halien flora, as descri])ed by Ileer, may be Cretaceous. It has many 

 points in common with the Flora of Nanaimo, and it occurs in beds restins' immediately on 

 deposits holding Cretaceous animal remains. Tlic Alaska and (liccnlaiid lloras have not 

 been proved to be Miocene, and as the Greenland ilora succeeds the Cretaceous without the 

 intervention of any other Ilora, it is not improbal)ly really I'loceiu'. 



."). The Markenzie Iviver beds present few points of identity with those of the Ameri- 

 can Eocene ; birt in making this comparison lieer classes as Miocene Ihc C.reen liiver and 

 Fort Union beds, which niav be repri^sentatives of the beds in (jucstion. l)ut wliirli 

 all American geologists regard as Eocene, or older. lie can thus only compare the Laramie 

 group with that portion of the older Tertiary admitted by Lesquereux as Eocene, while 

 the other Eocene or later Cretaceous beds of the adjoining parts of the United States, 

 are left out of llic comparison, being, like the Canadian Laramie, arbitrarily relegated to 

 the Miocene. 



The following tabular view will serve to show the actual dillerence between Heer 

 and the geologists of the United States and Canada with reference to the Laramie beds : — 



Eocene and Cretaceous beds, as given in Clurence King's Rejnui mi Ihr Wlli Pdrnllel. 



Eocene. — Uinta Series. Cretaceons. — Laramie ? 

 Bridger Series. Fox Hill. 



Green River Series. Colorado. 



Vermillion Creek (Coryphodon beds). Dakota. 



According to Lesquereux, the Green River beds of the above list are Upper Miocene, 

 the Vermillion beds are Lower Miocene, and the Laramie ari; Eocene. But accordiu"- to 

 Heer even the Laramie, or a large portion of it, is Miocene. The actual origin of this error 

 is the continuance of similar Floras in America from the Middle Cretaceous up to the 

 modern time, while much greater changes have occiirred in Europe within the same great 

 periods. 



* Proceedings Koyal Society of London. 



