144 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 32. 



first entitled: 'A i^ropos des algues fos- 

 siles,' which appeared in 1SS2 in the form 

 of an illustrated folio volume of 82 pages 

 and 9 plates; and the second entitled: ' Les 

 organismes problematiques des ancienues 

 mers,' which is a slightly larger companion 

 volume of 102 pages and 12 plates. This is 

 not the place to discuss the question in- 

 volved in these works, hut no one denies 

 that the Marquis Saporta has here brought 

 forward the strongest e^ddence that the case 

 will permit for the existence of vegetable 

 remains at these remote periods. 



A second popular and very useful work 

 was his ' Origine paleontologique des arbres 

 cultives ou utilises par I'homme,' a small 

 octavo volume of 360 pages and numerous 

 woodcuts, which appeared in 1888. Tliis 

 work evinces a wide acquaintance with the 

 dendrology, not only of Europe but of the 

 world, and is based mainly upon the 

 author's profound knowledge of the Later 

 Pliocene and Quaternary floras of France. 



Without stopping to mention other works 

 which have almost as much claim as the 

 ones already treated, I will indulge iu a 

 final word relative to the work upon which 

 our aiithor was engaged at the time of his 

 death. I allude to his studies in the Lower 

 Cretaceous flora of Portugal. After the 

 death of Oswald Heer, to whom the collec- 

 tions made by the Geological Survej^ of 

 Portugal from the plant bearing Mesozoic 

 beds of that country had been sent, and 

 who had published one important contribu- 

 tion to the subject, these collections were 

 sent to Saporta, and he had been engaged 

 upon them, as time would permit, since 

 1886. In 1888 he published, in the ' Comptes 

 Rendus,' a preliminary account of their na- 

 ture, in which it appeared that there were 

 now being found in the Portuguese beds be- 

 low the Cenomauiau certain dicotyledonous 

 forms which greatly interested the Marquis, 

 since this was bj- far the earliest appear- 

 ance in Europe of that type of plant life ; 



although, as was well known to him, we 

 have, in our Potomac flora of Virginia, de- 

 posits of still greater age containing such 

 plants. The appearance of this and a still 

 later similar paper on the same subject but 

 without illustrations, taken in connection 

 with the fact that I was at the time actively 

 engaged in the studj- of the equivalent beds 

 of this countrj', led to an interesting corre- 

 spondence, which was kept up until the sum- 

 mer of 1891, when it was my good fortune 

 to paj' a visit to the veteran paleontologist 

 at Aix for the purpose of examining the ma- 

 terial in his hands with a view to a com- 

 parison of the Portuguese forms with those 

 of the United States. My brief sojourn at 

 Aix and at Fonscolombe, as the guest of the 

 Marquis, aiibrded me the valued opportun- 

 ity^ to add to my knowledge of him as a 

 scientific man and a genial correspondent, 

 a glimpse of his personal character, and to 

 learn that along with those sterling attri- 

 butes which are required to make a man of 

 science there went the generous hospitality, 

 the unaffected simplicity and the cordial 

 aflability that characterize the true noble- 

 man. My reception on that occasion at the 

 Chateau of Fonscolombe, his country resi- 

 dence, where I made the acquaintance of 

 his interesting family, was of the warmest 

 character; and my brief stay there was in 

 the highest degree enjoj^able. 



I found that the first instalment of his woi'k 

 ou the Portuguese Flora was almost readj'^ 

 to appear, but the material that had reached 

 him since this volume went to press was 

 considerable, and this I was also permitted 

 to see. I need not here repeat the account 

 which I have already given iu these col- 

 umns* of the scientific value of this visit and 

 the general nature of the work under consid- 

 eration. He promised to send me the new 

 volume, together with a number of other 

 works of his which I informed him I had 



^ *SciENCE, New Ser., Vol. 1, Marcli 29, 1895, pp. 

 337-346. 



