

CLIMATE OF PLEISTOCENE PERIOD. 49 



and Italy, but formerly a widely -spread species in Southern 

 France. 



The tufas near Montpellier have yielded much the same assem- 

 blage of species as those of Provence; they evidently form part of 

 one and the same flora, but Planchon mentions twelve species 

 which Saporta has not yet detected in the tufas of Provence. 1 



Prom the above summary it will be gathered that the most 

 remarkable characteristic of the Pleistocene flora of Provence 

 and Montpellier was the intimate association of still indigenous 

 species with species which have ceased to be so — some of these 

 last having retreated because unable to support the cold of 

 winter, while others have retired to the mountains to escape the 

 dryness of summer. We must therefore conclude with Count 

 Saporta, that at the time when all those species lived together 

 in the same region the climate must have differed from that of 

 the present. It was necessarily somewhat cooler, or at least 

 more equable, in order that Laurus canariensis might flourish 

 abundantly, and at the same time more humid to enable Salz- 

 mann's pine, the Pyrenean pine, the dwarf pine, the wych elm 

 ( Ulmus montana), the gray willow (Salix cinerea), the beech, the 



1 I give here Count Saporta' s list of the plants discovered in the tufas of Pro- 

 vence : — 



I. Cryptogamia. — Pellia epiphylla? Nees ; Scolopendrium officinale, Sm. ; 

 Adiantum capillus-veneris, L. 



II. Monocotyledons. — Cyperacece ? — impressions of leaves like those of Carex 

 maxima, L. ; Typha latifolia, L. 



III. Dicotyledons. — Pinus pumilio, Haenke ; Pinus Salzmanni, Dun. ; 

 Pinus pyrenaica, Lap. ; Corylus avellana, L. ; Ulmus campestris, Sm. ; U. mon- 

 tana, Sm. ; Celtis australis, L. ; Ficus carica, L. ; Populus alba, L. ; Salix 

 cinerea, L. ; S. alba, L. ; Laurus nobilis, L. ; L. canariensis, Web. ; Fraxinus 

 ornus, L. ; Viburnum tinus, L. ; Hedera helix, L. ; Vitis vinifera, L. ; Cornus 

 sanguinea, L. ; Clematis flammula, L. ; Tilia europcea, L. ; Acer opulifolium, 

 Vil. ; A. monspessulanum, L. ; A. campestre, L. ; Euonymus europwus, L. ; 

 Juglans regia, L. ; Rhus cotinus, L. ; Pyrus acerba, D. C. ; Cratcegus oxyacantha, 

 L. ; Rubus idazus, L. ; Cercis siliquastrum, L. 



M. Planchon gives a list of thirty species, amongst which the following have 

 not been obtained in the Provencal tufas : — Fegatella conica, Cord. ; Pteris aqui~ 

 Una; Smilax aspcra ; Alnus glutinosa; Quercus ilex; Buxus sempervirens ; 

 Phillyrea angustifolia ; P. media; Fraxinus excelsior ; Rubia peregrina; Ilex 

 aquifolium ; Cotoneaster pyracantha. It may be added here that the tufa of the 

 valley Aygalades, near Marseilles, has yielded remains of Elephas antiquus, which 

 were determined by Falconer and Lartet. 



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