Oh. XV.] 



LOWER MIOCENE STRATA, SWITZERLAND. 



288 



here figured is coram on at Rivaz, and Fi s- 201 - 



is one of the most universal plants in 

 the Lowest Miocene of Switzerland, 

 while it also characterizes, the Mio- 

 cene Brown Coals of Germany and 

 certain beds of the Yal d'Arno, which 

 I have called Older Pliocene, p. 196. 



It is an interesting fact that this 

 tree should also have been discovered 

 in the surturbrand or lignite of Ice- 

 land, and by Dr. Walker in Disco 

 Island, in Greenland, in lat. 70° N. 

 It comes so near to the living S. sem- 

 pervirens (Taxodium) of California, 

 that some botanists entertain doubts 



whether they may not be varieties of the same species. As a fossil, 

 its geographical range extends from Greenland, lat TO N., to Sini- 

 gaglia in Italy, lat. 44° N., and in an east and west direction from the 

 Hebrides (Isle of- Mull) to the Steppe of the Kirghis. 



Sir John Richardson found this same fossil tree on the Mackenzie 

 River, two miles north of its junction with Bear River, lat. 65° N., 

 or in about the same parallel as the north of Iceland. 



I am indebted to Professor Heer for the annexed figure of this 

 North American specimen taken from the original. 



Sequoia Lcmgsdorfii. Ad. Br. § natural 

 size. Bivaz, near Lausanne. (Heer, pi. 

 21, fig. 4.) Upper and Lower Miocene 

 and Lower Pliocene. Val d'Arno. 



b. Young cone. 



Fig. 202. 



Sequoia Langsdorfii. Fossil, Mackenzie Eiver, lat. 65° N. 

 Sir G. Eichardson, Voyage, 1851, voL i. p. 186 ; vol. ii. p. 403. 



a. Branch with leaves, one year's growth. 



b. Under side of a leaf magnified, "showing punctuations as in the living S. sempervirens. 



c. Male flowers. d. Carpels of the cone. e. Seed. 



Among the ferns met with in profusion at Monod is the Lastrcea 

 stiriaca, linger, which has a wide range in the Mioceue period from 

 strata of the age of (Eningen to the lowest part of the Swiss 

 molasse. 



