INTRODUCTORY i "1 
In the brown coal of the Eocene and Miocene periods, Fan-palms, Conifers, and various existing 
genera of Myricetv, Laurinca>, and Plutunae are believed to have been identified. Wesel and Weber 
describe from the brown coal of the Rhine a rich and varied Flora, representing numerous families 
never now seen associated, and including some of the peculiar and characteristic genera of the Aus- 
tralian, South African, American, Indian, and European Floras.* 
In the Mollassc and certain Miocene formations at (Eningen and elsewhere in (iermany, Switzer- 
land, and Tuscany,t 900 species of Dicotyledons J have been observed, all apparently different from 
existing ones. They have been referred, with more or less probability, to Fan-palms, Poplars (three 
species), evergreen Laurinca, teratoma, Acacia, Tautar'mdtts, Banksia, Embothriwn, Grevtilea, 
Cupressus, several species of Juglans (one near the North-American ./. acuminata, another mar the 
common Walnut of Europe and Asia, ./. nigra, and a third near the North-American ./. cintrca) ; 
also a Hickory, near the Carya alba (a genus now wholly American), and a Pterocarya closely 
allied to P. Caucasica. 
The rise of the Alps was subsequent to this period; and in the European deposits immediately 
succeeding that event, in Switzerland (at Durnten and Utznach) are found evidences of the follow- 
ing existing species,— Spruce, Larch, Scotch Fir, Birch, a Hazel (different from that now existing), 
Scirpus lacustris, Phrai/mitcs communis, and Mcnyaiifhcs tcifoliata. 
The glacial epoch followed, during and since which there has probably been little generic change 
in the vegetation of the globe. 
32. So much for the main facts hitherto regarded as established in Vegetable Paleontology; 
they are of little value as compared with those afforded by the Animal Kingdom, even granting that 
they are all well made out, which is by no means the case. In applying them theoretically to the 
solution of the question of creation and distribution, the first point which strikes us is the impossi- 
bility of establishing a parallel between the successive appearances of vegetable forms in time, and 
their complexity of structure or specialization of organs, as represented by the successively higher 
groups in the Natural method of classification. Secondly, that the earliest recognizable Cryptogams 
* See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. xv. misc. 3, where an abstract is given, with some excellent cautions, hy C. J. 
F. Bunbury, Esq. The Australian genera include Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Uptomeria, Templetonia, Banksia, Bry- 
andra, and Hakea. I am not prepared to assert that these identifications, or the Australian ones of the Mollasse, 
are all so unsatisfactory that the evidence of Australian types in the brown coal and Mollasse should be altogether 
set aside j but I do consider that not one of the above-named genera is identified at all satisfactorily, and that many 
of them are not even problematically decided. 
f During the printing of this sheet I have received from my friend M. De Candollc a very interesting memoir 
on the tertian- fossil plants of Tuscany, by M. C. Gaud in and tin: Marquis C. Strox./.i, in which some of the genera 
here alluded to are described. The age of these Tuscan beds is referred by Prof. 0. Heer to a period intermediate 
between those of Utznach and (Eningen. The most important plants described are, ConifVrre, C> sp. ; Salix, 2; 
Liquidambar, 1 ; Alnus, 1 ; Carpinus, 1 ; Populus, 2 ; Fagus, 1 ; Quercus, 5 ; LTmus, 2 ; Planera, 1 ; Ficus, 1 ; 
Platanus, 1; Oreodaphne, 1; Laurus, 2; Penes, 1; Acer, 2; Vitis, 1; Juglans, 1; Carya, 1 : 
genera, and this in almost all cases from imperfect leaves alone ! Without questioning the good faith or ability of 
the authors of this really valuable and interesting memoir, I cannot withhold my protest against this practice of 
making what are at best little better than surmises, appear under the guise of scientifically established identifica- 
tions. What confidence can be placed in the positive reference of supposed fossil Fungi to Spharia, or of pinnated 
leaves to Sapindas, and other fragments of foliage to existing genera of Lanrinea, Ficus, and Vitis ? 
% 0. Heer, Sur les Charbons feuilletes de Durnten et Utznach, in Mem. Soc. Helvet. Sc. Nat. 1857; BibL 
Univers. Genev. August, 1853. 
