XXXIV PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



that which is characteristic of the mountainous district of the west 

 and south-west of Ireland. Consequently, at some period or other, 

 continuous dry land must have existed from the coast of Spain to 

 that of Ireland. 



2. The Devon Flora, connected with that of the Channel Islands 

 and the neighbouring parts of France. 



3. The Kentish Flora. — The vegetation of the south-east of Eng- 

 land is distinguished by the presence of a number of species common 

 to this district and the opposite coast of France. 



4. The Alpine Flora. — On the tops of some of our most lofty 

 mountains, particularly in Scotland, are plants not found elsewhere 

 in the British islands, but which are identical with those of the Scan- 

 dinavian Alps, thus pointing to a former connection in that direction. 



5. The General Flora. — This universal flora is almost identical as 

 to species with the flora of central and western Europe, and may be 

 properly styled Germanic. 



The arguments by which these views are maintained are clearly and 

 satisfactorily developed, but must be read and studied to be appre- 

 ciated. That portion of the paper, however, which relates to the 

 distribution of the marine plants and animals now inhabiting the 

 British seas is still more deserving of careful study. The account of 

 the distribution of the British Mollusca is particularly so : it con- 

 tains a mass of information on the subject, not to be found, at the 

 time of its publication, in any one work, and of the greatest value to 

 the student of Tertiary geology. I will only mention one or two of 

 the more interesting points with which the memoir concludes. 



" That the flora and fauna, terrestrial and marine, of the British 

 Islands and seas have originated, so far as that area is concerned, 

 since the Miocene epoch. 



" The greater part of the terrestrial animals and flowering plants 

 now inhabiting the British Islands are members of specific centres 

 beyond their area, and have migrated to it over continuous land, 

 before, during, or after the glacial epoch. 



" All the changes before, during, or after the glacial epoch appear 

 to have been gradual and not sudden, so that no marked line of de- 

 marcation can be drawn between the creatures inhabiting the same 

 element and the same locality during two proximate periods." 



Of the many scientific papers of great merit which Prof. Forbes 

 subsequently published, in our own and other Journals, I will only 

 allude to one, which in this room cannot be passed over in silence. 

 In his paper ' On the Fluvio-marine Tertiaries of the Isle of Wight,' 

 published in the 9th Vol. of our Quarterly Journal, the result of the 

 laborious investigations of several months, he has established, on data 

 which cannot be questioned, the true order ot superposition of the 

 upper tertiary beds of that typical locality, correcting the errors of 

 previous inquirers, aud confirming a suggestion made by Mr. Prest- 

 wich, that the strata composing a part of Hempstead Hill were pro- 

 bably higher than any beds hitherto noticed. The result of Prof. 

 Forbes' s inquiries has been to show that, taking the Yvliitecliff Bay 

 section for an example, the lieadon Hill beds, instead of constituting 



