I 



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i 



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■ 





I 



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&u 



Pla 



ae 



ana 



at 

 North 





a 



lis 



now 



noun- 

 ■ vear. 



there 

 lite 



itween 

 v that 













i can! 

 entor 



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LC 



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ioi^ 



Ch. X.] 



SIGNS OF ICE-ACTION IN TERTIARY TIMES. 



205 



such as we now only meet with in more southern regions.* 

 In the middle eocene, as in the calcaire grossier, for example, 

 near Paris, the marine testaceous fauna is richer and more 

 varied than that now proper to seas so far north. The flora 

 of the same division of the Tertiary period, as, for example, 



_ _ ^ jht, of Monte Bolca in 



the North of Italy, or that of Aix en Provence in the South of 

 "France, comprises species and genera having a great affinity 



Wi 



Mio 



from the modern European type, and, 



Heer 



many 



t 



The nummulitic formation of this era is of world-wide 

 extent, and contains many corals of large size, of genera now 

 common in tropical seas, some of the same fossil species 

 ranging from Sinde in India to the West Indies. 



If, lastly, we turn to the Lower Eocene strata, we find in 

 the London clay of the Isle of Sheppey fossil fruits of the 

 cocoa-nut, screw-pine, and custard-apple, reminding us of the 

 hottest parts of the globe ; and in the same beds are six 

 species of Nautilus, and other genera of shells, such as Conus, 

 Voluta, and Cancellaria, now only met with in warmer seas. 

 The fish also of the same strata, of which 50 species have been 

 described by Agassiz, are declared by him to be characteristic 

 of hotter climates, and among the reptiles are sea-snakes, 

 crocodiles, and several species of turtle. 



SUPPOSED SIGNS OF ICE-ACTION IN TERTIARY TIMES. 



Upper Miocene Period. — I have now endeavoured to give a 

 brief sketch of the indications afforded by organic remains of 

 the nature of the climate in the Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene 

 periods. Everywhere we have recognised a remarkable con- 

 currence of evidence in favour of a higher temperature ; but 

 our geological records are far too fragmentary to entitle us 

 positively to assume that, in the course of so vast a succession 

 of ages, there were no oscillations of temperature analogous 

 to those which certainly occurred between the close of the 

 Newer Pliocene period and our own time. Professor Eamsay, 



Elements of Geol., 6th edit,, p. 299. 



f Elements, p. 288. 



