210 



SUBAPENMNE STRATA. 



[Ch. xih 



subtropical a one as that of the Upper Miocene period, which will 

 presently be considered. 



M. Gaudin, jointly with the Marquis Strozzi, has thrown much 

 light on the botany of beds of the same age in another part of Tus- 

 cany at a place called Montajone, between the rivers Elsa and Evola, 

 where, among other plants, is found the Oreodaphne Heerii, Gaud, 

 (see fig. 161), which is probably only a variety of Oreodaphne fastens. 



Fig. 161. 



Fig. 162. 



OreodapTme Eeerii. Liquidambar europmtim var. trilobatum, A. Br. ; (some- 



Leaf half nat. size.* times 4-lobed and more commonly 5-lobed). 



a. Leaf, half nat. size. c. Fruit, nat. size. 



&. Part of same, nat. size. d. Seed, do. (Eningen. 



or the laurel called the Til in Madeira, where, as in the Canaries, it 

 constitutes a large portion of the native woods, but cannot now 

 endure the climate of Europe. In the fossil specimens the same 

 glands or protuberances as those which are observed in the axils of 

 the primary veins of the leaves in the recent Til are preserved.! 



Another plant also indicating a warmer climate is the Liquidambar 

 europceum, Brong. (see fig. 162), a species nearly allied to L. styra- 

 cifluum, L., which flourishes in most places in the Southern States of 

 North America, on the borders of the Gulf of Mexico. 



As the leaves come nearer to this American form, while the fruit, 

 according to Heer, is smaller and nearer to the Syrian Liquidambar 

 orientale, the fossil may, according to the doctrine of transmutation, 

 have been the original stock from which both have diverged. The 

 Javanese Liquidambar is very distinct ; the fossil, according to Heer, 

 ranges from the Older Pliocene to the Newer Miocene, but the genus 

 has now disappeared from Europe. 



* Feuilles fossiles de la Toscane. 

 Gaudin and Strozzi. Plate 11, fig. 3. 

 f Gaudin, p. 22. 



Contributions a la Flore fossile Italienne., 



