Reviews—Dutch Pliocene Fauna and Flora. 227 
interpretation. Till Dr. Reed shows more respect for his public, his 
erudition, energy, and ability will not receive the recognition that is 
their due. 
1V.—Tae Puriocene Froras or tran Dorcu—Prusstan Borper. 
By Crirment Rep, F.R.S., and Exeanor M. Rem, B.Sc. 
Mededeelingen van de Rijksopsporing van Delfstoffen, No. 6. 
pp. 180, with 4 text-figures and 20 photographic plates. 
’s Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff. 1915. Price fr. 16.50. 
R. AND MRS. REID have developed on lines of their own the 
study of the fossil fruits and seeds of the Tertiary floras. They 
have worked for many years on the Pleistocene and Pliocene deposits 
ot Britain ‘‘in the hope of obtaining some approximate measure of 
geological time, some idea of the succession of climatic changes, and 
some insight into the origins and migrations of successive faunas and 
floras”. Asa result of their work we have become acquainted with 
a sequence of small floras working backwards from the comparatively 
modern Roman deposits through Celtic, Neolithic, Glacial, Inter- 
glacial, and early Glacial strata to the latest Pliocene stage repre- 
sented in the Cromer Forest-bed. But as in Britain there is here 
a break in the succession, the earlier Pliocene deposits being marine 
and containing no plants, the authors have been forced to look abroad 
for the continuation of the history of the Pliocene flora of North- 
Western Europe, and hence have undertaken the examination of the 
Phocene flora which has been recently discovered at Limburg on the 
Dutch—Prussian border. In view of the remarkable results obtained 
from the study of the Upper Plocene flora of Tegelen, which were 
published in 1907, the publication of the detailed account of Mr. and 
Mrs. Reid’s further work in the same region has been awaited with 
much interest. 
‘The Reuverian flora, as the authors style it, from the name of the 
principal locality, is found to be of an older type than the Tegelian, 
' though many plants are common to the two. It indicates a warmer 
climate, and is classed as Middle Pliocene. Up to the present nearly 
300 species have been examined; of these the authors have been able 
to suggest the botanical position of about 230 ‘‘ with some degree of 
certainty’, and of a lesser number ‘‘ with considerable certainty.’’. 
The results arrived at are of great interest. ‘The trees and shrubs, 
which form the most peculiar and striking element in the flora, show 
a close relationship with the mountain flora of Western China at the 
‘present day. Thus, among the species found in Limburg are Gnetum 
scandens, Magnolia Kobus, Zelkowa Keakt, and other present-day 
Chinese species. Others occur which, belonging to genera now 
extinct in Kurope, are still represented in China by closely allied 
species; such is Meliosma europea, closely allied to IL, Veitchiorum 
of the mountains between China and Tibet. Again, when the genus 
in question is common to both Europe and China, it is often a Chinese 
or Japanese species that most resembles the Reuverian plant. The 
Reuverian flora suggests a mean temperature similar. to that of 
Southern France to-day, but the Chinese alliance is more strongly 
