﻿

  J. 
  S. 
  GARDNER 
  ON 
  THE 
  GEOLOGY 
  OF 
  MADEIRA. 
  281 
  

  

  from 
  the 
  memoirs 
  on 
  the 
  Geology 
  of 
  Jamaica 
  and 
  Trinidad 
  by 
  

   Messrs. 
  Sawkins 
  and 
  Wall. 
  

  

  Baron 
  von 
  Ettingshatisen 
  said 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  necessary 
  to 
  become 
  

   familiar 
  with 
  plants 
  that 
  still 
  existed 
  in 
  their 
  various 
  conditions 
  of 
  

   development, 
  as 
  affected 
  by 
  climate, 
  soil, 
  &c, 
  before 
  their 
  variations 
  

   could 
  be 
  understood. 
  It 
  was 
  needful 
  to 
  compare 
  a 
  large 
  number 
  of 
  

   specimens 
  both 
  of 
  ancient 
  and 
  existing 
  plants 
  ; 
  and 
  it 
  must 
  be 
  

   remembered 
  that 
  variations 
  existed 
  in 
  fossil 
  plants, 
  and 
  that 
  there 
  

   were 
  existing 
  forms 
  that 
  reached 
  backwards, 
  and 
  fossil 
  forms 
  that, 
  

   as 
  it 
  were, 
  extended 
  forwards, 
  so 
  that 
  great 
  caution 
  was 
  needful. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Evans, 
  after 
  interpreting 
  the 
  remarks 
  of 
  Baron 
  von 
  Ettings- 
  

   hausen, 
  who 
  had 
  spoken 
  in 
  German, 
  said 
  that 
  these 
  remarks 
  showed 
  

   the 
  extreme 
  need 
  of 
  caution 
  in 
  founding 
  species 
  and 
  genera 
  on 
  

   isolated 
  specimens 
  of 
  fossil 
  plants. 
  The 
  variation 
  in 
  existing 
  foliage 
  

   was 
  a 
  strong 
  warning 
  against 
  this. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Starkie 
  Gardner 
  said 
  it 
  was 
  singular 
  there 
  should 
  be 
  only 
  

   one 
  calcareous 
  formation 
  in 
  so 
  large 
  a 
  division 
  of 
  the 
  island. 
  Lists 
  

   of 
  the 
  fossils 
  existed. 
  He 
  had 
  called 
  especial 
  attention 
  to 
  the 
  

   leaf-beds 
  as 
  a 
  caution 
  to 
  palseobotanists 
  ; 
  for 
  he 
  thought, 
  as 
  a 
  rule, 
  

   that 
  plants 
  could 
  not 
  be 
  determined 
  from 
  mere 
  leaves. 
  He 
  thought, 
  

   however, 
  that 
  the 
  value 
  of 
  plants 
  had 
  been 
  too 
  much 
  overlooked. 
  

   The 
  Eeading 
  flora, 
  recently 
  exposed, 
  corresponded 
  remarkably 
  with 
  

   that 
  of 
  Greenland, 
  which 
  seemed 
  to 
  indicate 
  that 
  in 
  the 
  warmer 
  

   mid-Eocene 
  period 
  the 
  plants 
  of 
  more 
  temperate 
  regions 
  migrated 
  

   and 
  went 
  on 
  living 
  northward, 
  whence, 
  in 
  the 
  cooler 
  Miocene 
  

   times, 
  they 
  again 
  descended. 
  

  

  