268 THEORY OF A MIOCENE ATLANTIS. [Ch. XV. 



tainebleau sands from the Faluns of the Loire. But scarcely one 

 plant is admitted to have survived the shorter interval of time which 

 separated the flora of (Eningen from our own epoch. I say shorter 

 interval, because, as we have seen, p. 217, all the shells of the Fon- 

 tainebleau sands differ from those of the Faluns, whereas a fifth part, 

 and in some cases a third, of the shells of falunian deposits are still 

 living. If, therefore, the differential characters of the plants had been 

 measured in the same scale, and without any bias, it appears to me 

 that since many of them pass from a lower to one of the uppermost 

 members of the Miocene group, so a still greater number should have 

 been recognized as being common to the uppermost Miocene period 

 and the living creation. 



Theory of a Miocene Atlantis, — The Swiss plants of the Miocene 

 period have been obtained from a country not exceeding one-fifth of 

 Switzerland in area, yet the abundance of species in certain genera 

 and families best adapted for preservation in a fossil state is so great 

 as to demonstrate that the Miocene was richer than the modern flora, 

 rich and varied as the latter is well known to be. The researches 

 already made imply, according to Heer, that in the phsenogamous 

 class alone there must have been 3000 Miocene species, and, making- 

 due allowance and deductions on account of those which are limited 

 to certain subordinate members of the Miocene group, and which 

 may not all have existed at once, he comes to the conclusion that in 

 no equal area in the South of Europe (in Lombardy, for example, or 

 Sicily) is there now so luxuriant and diversified a vegetation. It ex- 

 ceeded in variety the Southern States of America, such as Georgia 

 and the Carolinas, and rivalled that of tropical countries, such as 

 Jamaica and Bahia. 



The majority of the fossil forms are allied to living species or 

 genera, but there are certain extinct types, specific and generic, which 

 have a wide range through successive tiers of strata from the lowest 

 Molasse up to those of (Eningen, and there is a certain unity of char- 

 acter stamped on the whole Miocene flora in spite of the contrast be- 

 tween that of the uppermost and lowest formations. The proofs of 

 a warmer climate, and the preponderance of trees and shrubs over 

 herbaceous plants, and the excess of evergreen over deciduous species, 

 are characters common to the whole flora, but which are. intensified 

 as we descend to the inferior deposits. On the other hand, the com- 

 parative number of American forms, though always conspicuous, is 

 somewhat lessened in the lowest beds. The living American types, 

 says Heer, are the most prominent ; those of Europe are in the second 

 rank ; those of Asia in the third ; Africa in the fourth ; and New 

 Holland in the fifth. In Europe it is the Mediterranean region which 

 presents the greatest number of analogous species. In America, the 

 Southern United States, such as Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, and the 

 Carolmas; in Asia, Japan, and the countries of the Caucasus and 

 Asia Minor ; in Africa, the small islands in the Atlantic, such as the 

 Canaries and Madeira. 



