NEW HOLLAND IN EUROPE, 61 
were not almost entirely wanting. Unfortunately, we poor mortals 
did not arrive at tlie world's stage until the last cosmic act, and 
as all the lights have been put out we can only grope about in the 
dark. And yet to man there is nothing more attractive than to spe- 
culate on his own fate, the history of the planet to which he belongs, 
and the soil of which he seems to be part and parcel. Nearly every 
nation preserves amongst its religious teachings a kind of genesis and 
theogony, to which it clings with all the tenacity of which human nature 
is capable. Geology, as a science, has also this problem at heart, and 
for its solution has impressed all other sciences into its service. The 
object is a grand, comprehensive, and profound one, worthy of the 
human intellect. Even ray short reflections on the cosmic position of 
New Holland belong to this category. Investigations on a more 
extended scale are, however, needed to decide which of them are sound, 
and I content myself with submitting them merely as an attempt, 
Appekdix I. — List of all those plants Milierto (1861) discovered in the Eocene 
fo^*mation having analogous species in New Holland or any otJtei* part of the 
southern hemisphere, ^ 
In puLlishing, foi' completeness' sake, this list, I do not endorse the whole of 
the species enumerated ; on the contrary, I hold at least one-half of them to 
be unsound, and it is to be regretted that the merest fragments are now so con- 
fidently referred to established genera. This is one of the great drawbacks of 
palaeontology, and somewhat justifies botanists in turning away from a young 
science destined to play such an important part in elucidating the genesis 
of plants. It is impossible to say what discoveries may yet he made to 
complete the disjecta memhra of some genera, or how far human acuteness 
may provide the means of clearing up the obscurities by which the subject 
is surroimded. 
F 
Fosdl Species^ and LocaUties in which Analogous Livinfjf Species and their 
they are found. Native Country, 
TlLICES. 
Blechnxim Brauniiy Ett. ; Monte Pro- Blechnnm strictim^ E. Br, ; T^ . ITol- 
mina. 
land. 
Natade^, 
Sphenophora crassa, Mass. ; Monte 
Pastelio, "Verona. 
S. gracilis, Mass. {S>. Uttingshauseniy 
Mass.; Flahellaria raphifolia^~EA^.) 
S. lacisioides, Mass. 
E 2 
