On Ihe Formations of the JVestern Swiss Alps. 101 



racters analogous to those it now presents. Those more per- 

 fect vegetables, known by the name of angiospermous pha- 

 nerogams, appeared in gi'eat numbers, and the vegetable 

 kingdom is not distinguishable from that now existing but by 

 characters of detail, or by differences analagous to those 

 wliich diversities of climate still produce on the earth. 



If we now compare the vegetables of the families which, 

 like the ferns and conifers, have been perpetuated during 

 all the geological periods, from the most ancient up to the 

 present, we perceive that such as belong to the most re- 

 mote creations, approach particularly plants of these same 

 families which now inhabit regions of the earth having a cli- 

 mate very diiferent from our own ; and that such, on the 

 contrary, as we meet with in the most recent beds, become 

 so muph the more analogous to the species which still grow 

 in these same countries, as the geological period to which 

 they belong approaches nearer our own. 



Everything, therefore, proves, on the one hand, that the dif- 

 ferent vegetable creations which have succeeded each other on 

 the globe have become more and more perfect; on the other 

 hand, that the climate of the surface of the earth is greatly 

 modified since the earlier times of tlie creation of living beings 

 up to the commencement of the present epoch. * 



Ohservations on the Jielalive Position of the Formations of the 

 Western Siviss Alps, and of the Alps of Savor/. By Profes- 

 sor Favhe. 



If we take a rapid glance at the formations of the Western 

 Swiss Alps and the Alps of Savoy, with the view more espe- 

 cially of determining the relations of position existing be- 

 tween them, we shall find that these mountains are composed 

 in the following manner : — 



1. Crystallised formations, formed of rocks of a very varied 

 character, very generally known, and on which we need not 

 make any further remarks. 



* From L'Institut, No. 711, p. 280. 



