Professor Oswald Iher. 89 



Ilcer'fi method of (letermining insects from the wings 

 aK)ne was remarkably successful with so great an entomo- 

 h)gical specialist. Thus he predicted that a fossil elytra 

 belonged to a living Brazilian form of Hi/droj'hilus ; and in 

 a few weeks a complete fossil specimen was discovered, 

 which verified the diagnosis. So, two fruits of fossil plants 

 were discovered which confirmed their previous description 

 worked out from the fossil leaves alone. Heer was soon 

 known to have a power in the field of palajophytology, 

 equalling that of Owen in his special branch of comparative 

 anatomy. His fame was spread al)road through the friend- 

 ship of Sir Charles Lyell. Besides, the fossils of (En- 

 ingen were in a very perfect state of preservation. In 

 owQ locality, along with the insects, were vegetable fossils 

 to the extent of 900 species. So Heer was irresistibly 

 drawn simultaneously into both studies. Both plants and 

 insects had alliances far beyond their present limited area. 

 Plant impressions now^ peculiar to America and the Azores, 

 such as Glethra and Persea, were very conspicuous ; along 

 with these were other forms now^ having their special habitat 

 in Asia, Africa, and Australia. Thus the Swiss professor 

 came face to face with absorbing questions of temperature 

 and geographic distribution. The interest was to be 

 enlarged by fresh discoveries amongst the fossil beds of St 

 Gorge, when on a visit to Madeira in 1854-55 for health. 

 Heer visited England in 1861, on the invitation of Sir 

 Charles Lyell, to find at Bovey Tracy, Devonshire, vege- 

 table remains indicative of a still warmer climate prevailing 

 in Eocene times. Further, in 1866, he intimated to the 

 British Association, that when the fossils of North Green- 

 land were living trees, the climate must have been 29° Fahr. 

 warmer than at present. Thus from this solitary study 

 came forth determinations as to climate and temperature on 

 palseophytological grounds, from the Arctic circle down 

 through the greater part of North America and Europe, 

 including the lost Atlantic continent. Heer also began 

 his speculations on progrersive development in plant life 

 from Swiss fossils taken from Carboniferous, Jurassic, 

 Cretaceous, and Tertiary localities. His further study of 

 fossils from quarters wide as the globe apart merely 

 broadened his generalisations. This was done by a 



