514 



CENOZOIC TIME. 



extinct species ; in the Lower Miocene, nearly all the shells are ex- 

 tinct ; in the Upper Miocene, the majority are extinct ; in the Older 

 Pliocene, the majority of the shells are of living species ; in the 

 Newer Pliocene, Norwich Crag, nearly all the shells are living. 



n. Life. 

 1. Plants. 



Protophytes were abundant, as in America ; the well known Infu- 

 sorial beds of Bilin, in Bohemia, have a thickness of fourteen feet, 

 and are fresh- water Tertiary. Planitz, in Saxony, is another similar 

 locality. 



The higher plants are mainly Angiosperms, Conifers, and Palms. 



The Isle of Sheppey is famous for its fossil fruits ; and from them 

 Bowerbank has distinguished those of thirteen species of Palms, re- 

 lated to the Nipce of the Moluccas and Philippine Islands, showing that 

 England in the Eocene was a land of Palms. In the Middle Eocene, 

 in England, there were species of Fig, Cinnamon, various Protectees, 

 etc., showing that the vegetation was much like that of India and Aus- 

 tralia. In the Tyrol, there are other Eocene beds containing Palms ; 

 moreover, out of 180 species of plants, 55 were Australian in character, 

 and 23 allied to plants of tropical America. In the Miocene, Palms 

 appear not to have reached so far north as England ; and the forests 

 of Europe were less tropical in character. What is remarkable, a 

 much larger proportion of species than now were of North American 

 type, showing that, while the Eocene vegetation of Europe was largely 

 Australian, the second or Miocene phase (including in part at least 

 the Upper Eocene of Lyell) was more like that of North America 

 than now. In the Pliocene, the Flora embraces the modern genera 

 of Rose, Plum, Almond, Myrtle, Acacia, Whortleberry, besides Maples, 

 Oaks, etc. 



The Miocene of Greenland, lat. 70°, afforded Heer 162 species of 

 plants, very few of which now live in the region. The number of 

 Arctic species now known is 194, of which 46 are identical with Mio- 

 cene plants of Europe. They include many kinds of trees — none of 

 vvhich now exist in Greenland- or within 10° of it — among them, the 

 yew, Taxodium dubium Sternb., the Redwood, Sequoia Langsdorjii, 

 Brngt., and several other species of this California genus ; also Alnus 

 Kefersteinii Gopp., Fagus Deucalionis Ung., Platanus aceroides Gopp., 

 Salix macrophylla, species of the Japan genera Thuiopsis and Salis- 

 buria, besides Oaks, Poplars, Walnuts. There were also a Magnolia 

 and a Zamia. Spitzbergen, in lat. 78° 56', has yielded ninety-five 

 species, including two species of Taxodium, and species of Hazel, Pop- 



