86 Prof. 0. Heer on the last Discoveries 



formed. These subsequently gave origin to the deposits of 

 coal which appear along the coast. In our marshes it is not 

 rare to see ferruginous water, which covers the soil with a 

 reddish-brown crust. The same thing took place in the an- 

 cient marshes of Greenland : the iron deposited itself upon the 

 plants which fell into the water ; and these, in their turn, con- 

 tributed to the precipitation and fixation of the iron. By this 

 means has been gradually formed that ferruginous rock in the 

 bosom of which numerous plants are imprisoned. These fos- 

 sils show that the marshes were covered with sedges and 

 reeds ; but the marsh-cypresses, the water-pines, the birch, 

 the alder, and the poplar likewise flourished there ; for nume- 

 rous fragments of these plants are covered by a ferruginous 

 deposit. The water-trefoil [Menyanthes arctica)) no doubt, 

 grew in the marshes, in the same way that the existing spe- 

 cies adorns our moist meadows with its charming flowers ; and 

 the burr-reed {Sparganium) ^ the fruit of which has been ob- 

 tained from these rocks, also formerly raised its bristling heads 

 above the waves. The rivulets also brought in leaves from 

 other localities ; they conveyed them from the primitive forests ; 

 and it is thus that we find their traces in the impressions of 

 the ferruginous rock. 



If we enter into these forests, we shall find in them a mar- 

 vellous profusion of trees and shrubs, among which we can 

 distinguish ninety-five different species. A tree with acicular 

 leaves {Sequoia Langsdorjii) strikes us at once by its enormous 

 proportions ; in its aspect it may be compared with our yew, 

 but it belongs to the category of giant trees. It has left leafy 

 branches in such numbers that there is scarcely a fragment of 

 stone which does not contain its remains ; and the flowers, 

 fruits, and seeds which the hammer has extricated from the 

 rock enable us to reconstruct the entire tree. It is accompa- 

 nied by two allied species, one of which {Sequoia Couttsice), 

 by the configuration of its branches and leaves, vividly reminds 

 us of the gigantic Sequoia of California. A Thuia had a dif- 

 ferent aspect, as also the Ginko {Salishuria adiantoides) ^ of 

 which the leaves, resembling the fronds of ferns, differ so 

 greatly from those of other Coniferae. The leafy trees are 

 especially well represented. Whilst our existing forests only 

 present two species of oaks. Northern Greenland possessed 

 nine, four of which must have been evergreen trees, like the 

 Italian oak. Two beeches, a chestnut, two planes, and a wal- 

 nut from this forest resemble the types of the same names 

 known to everybody. Besides these, American species, such 

 as the magnolias, sassafrasses, and liquidambars, were repre- 

 sented there ; and the characters of the ebony trees {Diospyros) 

 are to be distinguished in two of the species. 



