NORTH GREENLAND. 145 



Liquidambar, a Diospyros, and a Sassafras. Sequoia Langs- 

 dor fii is very common, as are also the species of poplar which 

 were met with in Spitzbergen. The oaks furnish seven species, 

 the planes two, and the vines two, one of which (Vitis Oriki) is 

 remarkable for the size of its handsome leaves. This flora 

 therefore indicates a climate analogous to that now character- 

 istic of the neighbourhood of the Lake of Geneva. Nor was it 

 only in Spitzbergen and North Greenland that a warmer climate 

 formerly prevailed ; the fossil floras of Iceland, of the shores of 

 the Mackenzie River in North America (65 N. lat.), and of 

 Alaska exhibit remains of trees and shrubs of which the homo- 

 logous species no longer occur in those latitudes, and which in- 

 form us that the arctic zone possessed a much higher tempera- 

 ture in the Miocene times than it does at present. 



For Switzerland the climate of the Miocene fauna and flora 

 was sufficiently explained by adding 9 Cent, (or 16'2 Fahr.) to 

 the present temperature ; but this is not the case with the arctic 

 zone. Spitzbergen, in 78 N. lat., has a mean temperature of 

 -8-6 Cent, (or 16'7 Fahr.); and Greenland, in 70 N. lat., 

 has -7 Cent, (or 19'l Fahr.) : if we add 9 Cent, (or 16'2 

 Fahr.) we get for the latter country 2 Cent, (or 35'6 Fahr.), 

 and for Spitzbergen 0*4 Cent, (or 32'72 Fahr.), which would 

 not be correct as the temperature of the known Miocene flora. 

 We must estimate for these arctic countries, between the Ter- 

 tiary epoch and the present day, a difference of temperature of 

 16-17 Cent, (or 28'8-30-6 Fahr.). The difference of tempe- 

 rature between the Miocene and the existing floras is therefore 

 much more considerable in the arctic than in the temperate zone; 

 and the change has been the greatest in the extreme north. 



If we turn from Switzerland towards the south we notice, in 

 the Lower Miocene flora of Upper Italy, splendid palms which 

 have been found near Cadibona, at the Monte Vegrone, and at 

 Chiavon. In Greece, near Pikermi in Attica, a great mass of 

 bones is accumulated, which show that in Upper Miocene times 

 giraffes, large gazelles, monkeys, and great mastodons inhabited 

 the south-east of Europe. The Miocene marine fauna also had 

 a somewhat different character in the south and in the north of 

 Europe. In Piedmont (at Sassello) extensive coral-reefs are 

 found composed of splendid madrepores, and reminding us of 



VOL. II. L 



