FLOE AS OF SECONDARY AND TERTIARY PERIODS. 473 



America. The plants of tlie Lower Miocene of Switzerland 

 are also mostly of a tropical character, but include several 

 forms now found in North America, such as a Tulip-tree 

 {Liriodendron) and a Cypress {Taxodium). Amongst the 

 more remarkable forms from these beds may be mentioned 

 Fan-Palms (ChamcerojJS, fig. 720, a), numerous tropical ferns, 



Fig. 720. — Miocene Palms, a, Cliammrops Helvetica ; b, Sabal major. Lower Miocene 

 of Switzerland and France. 



and two species of Cinnamon. The plant-remains of the 

 Upper Molasse of Switzerland indicate an extraordinarily rank 

 and luxuriant vegetation, composed mainly of plants which 

 now live in warm countries. Among the commoner plants 

 of this formation may be enumerated many species of Maple 

 (Acer), Plane-trees (Flatamis, fig. 721), Cinnamon-trees, and 

 other members of the Zauracece, many species of Froteacece 

 {Baiiksia, Grevillea, &c.), several species of Sarsaparilla 

 (Smilax), Palms, Cypresses, &c. 



In Britain, the Lower Miocene (Eocene ?) strata of Bovey 

 Tracy have yielded remains of Ferns, Vines, Fig, Cinnamon, 

 Pi'oteacem, &c., along with numerous Conifers. The most 

 abundant of these last is a gigantic pine — the Sequoia Couttsice 

 — which is very nearly allied to the huge Sequoia ( Welling- 

 tonia) gigantea of California. A nearly-allied form {Sequoia 

 Langsdorjffii) has been detected in the leaf-bed of Ardtun in 

 the Hebrides. 



In Greenland, as well as in other parts of the Arctic 

 regions, Miocene strata have been discovered which have 



