10 



leaved poplars, figs, myrtles, azalias, magnolias, 

 and leguminous plants allied to the Lotus 

 among the conifers are Sequoias several species 

 of Cupressinece and a Salisburia. Monocotyledons, 

 which had been for a long time subordinate and weak, 

 became of some importance, At the close of this sera, 

 there was a large increase of land in the higher tem- 

 perate and polar regions which materially affected the 

 climate of Europe. The sea at this time still covered 

 the Alpine and Pyrenean area. A few islands were 

 sprinkled here and there indicative of the subsequent 

 line of elevation. Of all rocks of this period no 

 formation is of such great geographical importance 

 as that of the nummulitic ; it appears that of more 

 than fifty species of nummulites, described by 

 d Archaic, there are only one or two species in the 

 other tertiary beds. The nummulitic Sea traversed 

 Europe diagonally, and can be traced through northern 

 Africa, it was largely quarried of old for the pyramids 

 of Egypt, and is met with in Asia Minor, across Persia to 

 the mouths of the Indus ; nummulites have been found 

 in Western Thibet in deposits 16,800 feet above the 

 level of the sea. This extensive Mediterranean Sea 

 had an influence of some importance in the introduc- 

 tion of new plants among which is Sabal major, 

 a palm of majestic height resembling the Sabal 

 umbraculifera, Jacq., of the Antilles, found in all the 

 European miocenes, several Sequoias, Taxodianece and 

 Libocedrus, chiefly allied to Arbor vitce (Thuja) found 

 now only in Chili and New Zealand, An important 



