92 



PAL^ONTOLOGICAL BOTANY. 



Chara meclicaginiila and C. prisca, with a fossil called 

 Gjrogonites, the nucule or the fructification of these plants. 

 Carpolithes ovatus, a minute seed-vessel, occurs in the Eocene 

 beds of Lewisham. Another small fruit, of a similar nature, 

 called Folliculites minutulus, occurs in the Bovey Tracey coal, 

 which belongs to the Tertiary beds. 



The most striking characters of the Miocene epoch consist 

 in the mixture of exotic forms of warm regions with those of 

 temperate climates. linger says that it resembles that of the 

 southern part of North America. Thus we meet with Palms, 

 such as species of Flabellaria and Phoeni- 

 cites, a kind of Bamboo called Bambusium 

 sepultum; Lauracea3, as Daphnogene and 

 Laurus ; Combretaceae, as Getonia and Ter- 

 minalia ; Leguminos^, as Phaseolites, 

 Desmodophyllum, Dolichites, Eiythrina, 

 Bauhinia, Mimosites, and Acacia — all plants 

 haying their living representatives in warm 

 j^ climates; Echitonium, Plumiera, and other 

 Apocynacese of equatorial regions ; Comp- 

 tonia (Fig. 95), a Proteaceous genus, and 

 Steinhauera, a Cinchonaceous genus; 

 mingled with species of Acer (Fig. 96), Ulmus 

 (Fig. 97), Rhamnus (Fig. 98) ; and Amenti- 

 ferous forms, such as Myrica, Betula, Alnus (Fig. 99), Quercus, 

 Fagiis, Caq^inus, all belonging to temperate and cold climates. 

 The statements as to the occurrence of Pinus sylvestris and 

 Betula alba among the Miocene fossils have not been founded 

 on complete data. It is by no means easy, even in the present 

 day, to distinguish fragments of dried specimens of Pinus 

 Pumilio from those of P. sylvestris, and from a great many 



Fis. 95. 



Fig. 95. Comptonia acutiloha, apparently the leaf of a jjlant belong- 

 ing to the natural order Proteacese, which abound in Australia, and are 

 also found at the Cape of Good Hope at the present day. 



