FLORAS OF SECONDARY AND TERTIARY PERIODS. 50 1 



proximate on the whole to the existing vegetation of the earth. 

 They are, however, in the main most closely allied to forms 

 which now are found in tropical or sub-tropical regions. In 

 the London Clay occur numerous fruits of Palms (Nipadites^ 

 fig. 398), along with various other plants, most of which in- 

 dicate a warm climate as prevailing in the South of England 

 at the commencement of the Eocene period. In the Eocene 

 strata of North America occur numerous plants, such as Palms, 

 Conifers, Magnolia, Cinnamon, Fig, Dog-wood, Maple, Hick- 

 ory, Poplar, Plane-trees, &c. Upon the whole, the Eocene 

 flora of North America is nearly re- 

 lated to that of the Miocene strata 

 of Europe, as well as to that now 

 existing in the American area. We 

 may conclude, therefore, that " the 

 forests of the American Eocene re- 

 sembled those of the European Mio- 

 cene, and even of modern America" 

 (Dana). 



MIOCENE PLANTS. The deposits 

 of the Miocene period have yielded 

 an extraordinarily large number of 

 plants, only a few of the more im- 

 portant of which can be indicated 

 here. Our chief sources of informa- 

 tion as to the vegetation of the Miocene period are derived 

 from the Brown Coals of Germany and Austria, the Lower 



Fig. 398. Nipadites ellip- 

 ticus. London Clay of Shep- 

 pey. 



Fig. 399. Miocene Palms. A, Chamarops Helvetica; B, Sabal major. 

 Lower Miocene of Switzerland and France. 



and Upper Molasse of Switzerland, and the Miocene strata of 

 Greenland. The lignites of Austria have yielded very numer- 



