204 MIOCENE FOSSIL TREES IN ARCTIC LATITUDES. [ C „. x 



compared with the miocene species of Central Europe and 

 Italy, many of them are found to be the same, and it is clear 

 that the climate was not only much warmer than now, but 

 the temperature of Europe and the Arctic circle was much 

 less contrasted ; nevertheless, the flora of Spitzbergen was 



means 



of Switzerland, Germany, and Devonshire, for in the Lower 

 Miocene period, the difference of latitude made itself felt as 

 now, although in a less degree. Professor Heer infers, with 

 great probability, that pines, alders, poplars, willows', and 

 other hardy genera reached the pole itself in Miocene times 

 if there was land there, because they range at present from 

 4 to 10 degrees farther north than the Taxodium, Beech, Plane 

 and Lime, which accompany them in a fossil state in the same 

 formation at Spitzbergen. Some of the last-mentioned genera 

 are in a higher latitude in Spitzbergen, by 8, 17, and 23 

 degrees, than the living representatives of the same genera. 

 We cannot hesitate, therefore, to conclude that in Miocene 

 times, when this vegetation flourished in Snitch awat, 1^^4.1, 

 Greenland, and 



Land, and other 



Mackenz 



circum 



snow 



in the arctic regions, except on the summit of high moun- 

 tains, and even there perhaps not lasting throughout the year. 

 If it be asked whether in the entire Miocene series there 

 are no indications of intercalated spells of colder climate like 

 the glacial episode before mentioned, as intervening between 

 the older Pliocene and the modern eras, I may reply that 

 there are none which can at present be established on organic 

 evidence ; I will therefore defer till the close of this chapter 

 some apparent signs of ice-action which have been detected 

 in miocene strata near Turin, and proceed at once to carry 

 back our retrospective survey to the next antecedent or 



Eocene period. 



fauna and fl 



— In the flora of the upper mem- 



bers of this great series, we find in the neighbourhood of 

 Paris and in the Isle of Wight, some plants which, like the 

 palmetto, attest a warmer temperature. Among the accom- 

 panying reptiles, there are many crocodiles and tortoises, 





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