CHAP, vi.] EARLY PLEISTOCENE FORESTS. 



river deposits, to be dredged up by the fishermen of the 

 present time in the North Sea in incredible numbers. 

 Our western seaboard then was probably marked by the 

 hundred-fathom line, sweeping far to the west and north 

 of Ireland, and southwards across the mouth of the 

 Channel. In all probability the geographical conditions 

 of Britain at this time were identical with those of the 

 late Pleistocene (see Fig. 32, p. 150), when our country 

 formed part of the continent. 



Early Pleistocene Forests. 



The early Pleistocene vegetation covering Britain is 

 represented by the specimens collected by the Eev. S. 

 W. King, in 1861, from the forest bed and lignite beds 

 of tha Norfolk shore, and identified by Professor Heer. 

 The forests then growing in the area of the North Sea 

 consisted of Scotch firs, spruces and yews, oaks and 

 birches, with an undergrowth of sloes. In the marshes 

 there were alders, osmund royal, and marsh trefoil ; the 

 rivers were gay with the blossoms of the yellow and 

 white water-lilies ; and in the pools there were horn- 

 worts and pond weeds. In this list, as Sir Charles 

 Lyell remarks, only one species, the spruce, is not now 

 indigenous in Britain. The history of the arrival of this 

 tree in Europe is very remarkable. Professor Heer, in 

 his description of the fossil plants discovered in Grinnel] 

 Land by Captain Fielden, describes the spruce among 

 the Meiocene plants of the Arctic region. " We therefore 

 see that our spruce was living during the Meiocene period 

 in Grinnell Land as well as in North Spitsbergen, and 

 at that time doubtless extended as far as the Pole, at 

 least if any dry land then existed there. In Europe the 



