FLOEA OF THE TEETIAEY PEEIOD. 751 



istic forms. In this period we find AlgSB represented by Cystoseirites, 

 Oonfervites, Sargassites, and Chondrites ; Ferns by peculiar species of 

 Pecopteris and Protopteris ; Naiadacese by Zosterites ; Palms, by 

 Flabellaria and Palmacites ; OyacadacesB, by Cycadites, Zamites, 

 Microzamia, Fittonia, and Bennettites ; Ooniferse, by Brachyphllum, 

 Widdringtonites, Cryptomeria, Abietites, Pinites, Cunninghamites, 

 Dammarites, Araucarites ; and Angiospermous Dicotyledons, by 

 Comptonites, Alnites, Oarpinites, Salicites, Acerites, Juglandites, and 

 Credneria. In the Gault of Folkestone a cone allied to that of 

 Sequoia gigantea has been detected. Carruthers thinks that the con- 

 iferous vegetation of the highlands of the upper Cretaceous system had 

 a fades similar to that now existing in the mountains in the west of 

 North America, between the 30th and 40th parallel of latitude. With 

 the chalk, Ansted says, we close, as it were, one great volume of the 

 history of animated creation. Everything up to this point belongs to 

 the past j everything on this side of it may be ranked among indica- 

 tions of the present. New forms, new types of organisation, corre- 

 sponding to diiferent habits and altered circumstances, now replace 

 those which have passed away. The conditions under which animals 

 and vegetables lived were changed, and a new epoch commenced upon 

 the earth. At the base of the Tertiary period, there is a Fucoidean 

 epoch, characterised by deposits rich in Algae of a very peculiar form, 

 belonging to the genera Chondrites and Munsteria. No land plants 

 have been found mingled with these marine species. 



The Teetiaey series of Eocks are well seen in the south of Europe, 

 Asia, and America. In Britain the tertiary deposits are met with in the 

 London clay, in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the Suffolk and 

 Norfolk Crag, and in the Till of the Clyde. The London clay contains 

 numerous fruits belonging to many hundred species of plants. The first 

 tertiary land of which we have knowledge seems to have been richly 

 clothed with plants. The strata are, generally speaking, rich in fossils. 

 The stems and leaves appear to be those of t)icotyledons, little differ- 

 ing from the plants of the present day (figs. 935-939). In the brown 

 coal of this series, the structure of the wood is evident, and distinctly 

 exogenous (figs. 935-937), and there are often associated with it leaves 

 of Poplars, Elms (fig. 938), Oaks, Beeches, Maples, Hazels, Birches, 

 and other forest trees. The fossil plants of the Isle of Sheppey have 

 been examined by Bowerbank, and have led to the determination of 

 several hundred species of plants, all of them extinct, and all resem- 

 bling those of warmer climates :• — fruits of Nipadites (Pandanocarpum), 

 & fossil plant, allied to Nipa, one of the Pandanacese ; Hightea, a five- 

 seeded fruit, probably Malvaceous ; also the fruit of a Proteaceous 

 plant, and of species allied to Canna, Cucumber, and the Leguminosee 

 and Coniferse of the present day. To some of them the names of 

 Cupanoides, WethereUia, Oucumites, and Mimosites, have been given. 



