132 MIOCENE CLIMATE. 



trees in flower in the primaeval forest ; in March the willows and 

 poplars followed, and soon afterwards the planes and camphor- 

 trees, and undoubtedly also the maples, liquidambars, and walnut- 

 trees, in which the leaves and flowers were simultaneously deve- 

 loped. In the same month the leafy trees which shed their 

 leaves in the late autumn acquired a new green foliage. At 

 this season storms and heavy rains were doubtless frequent; 

 leaves, flowers, and twigs were torn away from the trees and 

 shrubs, swept down into the lakes, and covered by the sinking 

 mud ; and hence we find many deposits of fossil plants belonging 

 to the spring season. About the middle of May the poplars and 

 willows ripened their fruits, which were carried off by the wind 

 and scattered among the leaves, where they are now frequently 

 found, especially at CEningen. At this time also the elms cast 

 off their "winged fruits, which would be carried far away by the 

 wind, and may thus have been transported into the insect-bed 

 of the lower quarry at CEningen. About midsummer the long- 

 stalked fruits of the beautiful Podogonia arrived at maturity, and 

 also those of the birches and P or ants, which are enclosed in the 

 same stone with them. Great swarms of winged ants appeared 

 and performed their lively dances on the fine summer evenings 

 on the shore of the lake, in company with numerous midges and 

 large Termites, and while thus engaged were frequently driven 

 over the water and drowned. Cicada raised their monotonous 

 sorig on the ash trees ; in the grass below numerous grasshoppers 

 produced their peculiar chirp ; and near them were many little 

 froghoppers ; whilst from the neighbouring marshes was heard 

 the music of large frogs and toads. Beetles were engaged 

 upon the shore in working up into new forms the excrements of 

 the mammals which came from the neighbouring forests to 

 drink in the lake. Many of these dung-beetles rose into the 

 air and perished in the mud ; they were added to the rich col- 

 lection of insects which has been preserved for us at CEningen. 

 A small Hister (H. coprolithorum, Heer) was even inserted with 

 the fruit of a Podogonium and a winged ant in the same leaf 

 of this wonderful book of nature ; and the slab tells us that 

 this insect once lived in the summer season by the Lake of 

 CEningen. 



