170 QUATERNARY PERIOD. 



elytra of Donacia (D. discolor, Gyll., and D. menyanthidis, Fab.) 

 and small Carabidse *. No mammals have as yet been met with 

 here ; the mammoth and cave-bear are always found, according 

 to M. Fillet, in a later formation. It is worthy of notice that 

 this lignite formation has also been discovered in the south- 

 west of France, near Biarritz, by Dr. C. G-audin, a friend of 

 Prof. Heer. It contains the seeds of the extinct water-lily 

 (Holopleura Victoria, Gasp.) and of the bog-bean and a hazel- 

 nut, and also coloured elytra of Donacia. 



On a general review of the plants and animals of the lignites, 

 it is manifest that they are completely different from those of 

 the Miocene. GEningen is the youngest member of the Miocene ; 

 but it has no single species in common with the lignites, and 

 the general character of its fauna and flora is quite different. 

 Between the Miocene and the lignite formation there has been 

 consequently a vast interval, as may be seen by a comparison of 

 the two landscapes of Lausanne and Diirnten. In the former, 

 near Lausanne, there is a subtropical group with trees which are 

 now quite foreign to Switzerland ; and in the Diirnten picture 

 none but indigenous plants appear. Thus a complete transfor- 

 mation of organic nature had taken place, and in the lignites the 

 existing order of things had already commenced. Although 

 containing some extinct types, their fauna and flora were never- 

 theless much nearer to those now existing than to the Miocene ; 

 they announce a new period, and with it the dawn of the present 

 creation. But it is not only that organic nature appears in a 

 new dress ; even the form of the ground has become different, 

 and, on the whole, assumed its present physiognomy. Upon this 

 point the conditions of deposition of the lignite furnish decisive 

 data. It has been already noticed (vol. i. pp. 286, 287) that the 

 Miocene was upheaved along the Alps, whilst in the plain of 

 Switzerland it retained a horizontal position. At Utznach the 

 sandstones are thrown into a perpendicular position (see fig. 329, 

 p. 152) in consequence of this upheaval, as may be seen near the 

 ruins of the old castle. The lignite-deposit and the masses of 



* Prof. Heer is indebted to M. Fillet, of Chambe'ry, for the communication 

 of these specimens, 



