270 Notices of Memoirs — Count de Saporta — 



it is suggested that they were preserved unmodified in an inland 

 salt sea. The Alps during this epoch probably formed a plateau, 

 here and there covered by salt lakes ; after a time the sea again 

 gained on Europe ; this Tongrien sea traversed a different direction to 

 the older Nummulitic sea. It occupied anew the Paris basin, united 

 the Isle of Wight, traversed Belgium, Westphalia, penetrated the 

 Gulf of Cassel, fringed the Adriatic, and bordered the Vosges and the 

 Black Forest. From the various localities including them in Alsace 

 and Austria M. Schimper records no less than 800 to 900 species 

 of plants. The general aspect of the vegetation resembles that now 

 living in Australia. Palms (Sabal major) as large as the Parasol 

 Palm of the Antilles. Sequoias, near to those of California. In the 

 lake a profusion of Nymphacea and Nenuphars existed, now only 

 found in Senegambia, Nubia, and Egypt. At Armissan, near 

 Narbonne, the flora is specially rich, and exhibits characters tran- 

 sitional to the more modern Lower Miocene or Aquitanian. 



The Oligocene period terminated with the retreat of the Tongrien 

 Sea, which deposited the Fontainbleau grits, and at the commencement 

 of the Miocene period the Paris basin emerged above the water, and 

 the "Falun Sea" to the west was separated from the "Molasse Sea" 

 of S.E. France by a central dry arm ; the Faluns, of the Aquitanian 

 period, mark deposits tranquilly deposited in lakes, gradually dimin- 

 ishing in depth ; beds of the same age occur in the Baltic Amber 

 region (54° lat.), at Bovey Tracey, Thorens in Savoy, Coumi in 

 Greece (38° lat.), and Kadoboj in Croatia, ranging through 16 degrees 

 of latitude, though the included flora points to an almost absolute 

 identity of climate. The Ferns point to a damp soil and climate. 

 An Osmunda (O. lignitum) flourished near to the O. presliana of 

 Southern Asia, Ceylon, Java, and Southern China. The genus 

 Lygodium also now finds its most northern limit, with one species in 

 Florida, and another in Japan, the Aquitanian forms most resembling 

 the American species. The Palms (Flabellaria and Sabal, etc.) had 

 not yet diminished in Europe. Sequoias still abound, but the Pines 

 are becoming rarer, while the Oaks, Alders, Beeches, and Poplars 

 commenced to exhibit their modern morphological characteristics. 

 In the Baltic amber region Camphor Trees abound, but Palms are 

 absent, but a number of the genus Smilax occur there. The limit 

 of Palms passed probably a little north of Bovey Tracey to along the 

 52nd parallel. The Sabal major apparently did not pass north of 

 Bonn, 50° 45' W. lat., the lignites of which contain many other 

 tropical plants, sensitive Mimosas, many Acacias, Azaleas, etc. 



In the Coumi deposits temperate forms are few in species and 

 individuals, and they are characterized by a profusion of tropical 

 species. Palms are, however, rare ; but the last Cycad that lingered 

 in Europe occurs in it, the magnificent Enceplialartos Gorceixianus, 

 Sap., discovered by M. Gorceix. 



Succeeding the Aquitanian lacustrine deposits come the Upper 

 Miocene " Molasse Sea," the last that invaded our Continent, and 

 turned Central Europe into a scattered archipelago. To the west the 

 sea of the Faluns occupied the Garonne, but did not communicate 



