306 HISTORICAL .PALAZONTOLOGY. 
or imperfect coal. These strata contain numerous plants, 
amongst which are Vines, Figs, the Cinnamon-tree, Palms, 
and many Conifers, especially those belonging to the genus 
Sequoia (the ‘‘Red-woods’’). These Bovey Tracy lignites are 
of Lower Miocene age, and they are lacustrine in origin. Also 
of Lower Miocene age are the so-called ‘‘ Hempstead Beds ” 
of Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight. These attain a thickness of 
less than 200 feet, and are shown by their numerous fossils to 
be principally a true marine formation. Lastly, the Duke of 
Argyll, in 1851, showed that there existed at Ardtun, in the 
island of Mull, certain Tertiary strata containing numerous 
remains of plants ; and these also are now regarded as belong- 
ing to the Lower Miocene. 
In France, the Lower Miocene is represented in Auvergne, 
Cantal, and Velay, by a great thickness of nearly horizontal 
strata of sands, sandstone, clays, marls, and limestones, the 
whole of fresh-water origin. The principal fossils of these 
lacustrine deposits are AZammatlia, of which the remains occur 
in great abundance. In the valley of the Loire occur the 
typical European deposits of Upper Miocene age. ‘These are 
known as the “ Faluns,”’ from a provincial term applied to 
shelly sands, employed to spread upon soils which are deficient 
in lime; and the Upper Miocene is hence sometimes spoken 
of as the “ Falunian” formation. The Faluns occur in scat- 
tered patches, which are rarely more than 50 feet in thickness, 
and consist of sands and marls. The fossils are chiefly marine; 
but there occur also land and fresh-water shells, together wie 
the remains of numerous Mammals. About 25 per cent of the 
shells of the Faluns are identical with existing species. The 
sands, limestones, and marls of the Department of Gers, near 
the base of the Pyrenees, rendered famous by the number of 
Mammalian remains exhumed from them by M. Lartet, also 
belong to the age of the Faluns. 
In Switzerland, between the Alps and the Jura, there occurs 
a great series of Miocene deposits, known collectively as the 
“ Molasse,” from the soft nature of a greenish sandstone, 
which constitutes one of its chief members. It attains a thick- 
ness of many thousands of feet, and rises into lofty mountains, 
some of which—as the Rigi—are more than 6000 feet in 
height. The middle portion of the Molasse is of marine 
origin, and is shown by its fossils to be of the age of the 
Faluns; but the lower and upper portions of the formation 
are mainly or entirely of fresh-water origin. The Lower 
Molasse (of Lower Miocene age) has yielded about 500 species 
of plants, mostly of tropical or sub-tropical forms. ‘The Upper 
