TlIK SUNKEN ISLAND OF ATLANTIS. 
21 
l/"^ 
Iceland, at 
t 
period. Fragments of trees are preserved in tlie lignite or " Sui'tur- 
brand " of that island, and, as they are still covered with bark, they 
cannot have reached it as drift-wood. | Besides Iceland, there are only 
a few small groups of islands between Europe and America, viz. the 
Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and the Cape de Verds, all volcanic. 
lu only one of them, Madeira, remains of plants have been found 
deeply buried in trap-tuff. These remains are very fragmentary, and, 
as they seem to belong to species more resembling those still living on 
tlie island than the merabei*s of the Tertiary flora, their deposition 
and existence on the globe have been referred to a more recent period 
than the Tertiary. But this does not seem to be correct. The few 
Tertiary plants hitherto discovered in North America agree, it is true, 
with our European Tertiary species, but they do also not essentially 
differ from the character at pre^ent borne by the flora of that country. 
Ts^or could it be otherwise, if the Tertiary flora of Euro2)e ever did have a 
North American character. The North American flora has not altered 
at all or but slightly, whilst that of Europe has assumed since that 
period an entirely new face. The same has taken place in the Atlantic 
islands. It cannot be denied that the Tertiary flora of Europe not only 
agrees with the present flora of North America, but also reminds us 
of that of the Atlantic islands, which at present inclines in its character 
quite as much towards America as to Europe. About a dozen Tertiary 
plants may easily be picked out, agreeing with species at present 
growing in the Atlantic islands. 
Flora Tertiaria. 
Woodwardia Kossncriana, TJ, 
Pteris Gopperti, Web. 
Aspidium elongatum, Heer. 
Cheilantlies Laharpii, Heer. 
Myrica salfcina, IT. 
Persea Brauiiii, Heer, 
P. speeiosa, Heer. 
Flora Ailantiea, 
Woodwardia radicans, Cav, 
Pteris arguta, VahL 
Aspidium affine, Lo?ve. 
Cheilanthes fragraus, X. s^, 
Myrica Fuya, Linn, 
Persea Indica, Sj)^!. 
* See more ample details in O. Ileer's Tert. Flora der Schweitz, ii. p. 315. 
t In a recent work of travels it is stated that there are still a few indigenous 
trees. — Ed, 
Arctic 
*Jouru. of Botany' (1863.) 
