ANGI0SPER1VLE. 



545 



pean fossils described under this name are really referable to the 

 group. With the Cupuliferce, containing the Alders, Birches, Hazels, 

 Beeches, Oaks, &c, we come to a large group well represented in a 

 fossil state, many of the forms being known by the seeds as well as 

 the leaves. The existing genera Alnus (Alder), and Betula (Birch), 

 are recorded from the Laramie and Dakota stages of the Upper 



flpfraflD 



Fig. 1407. — Leaf of Alnus gracilis ; from 

 the Miocene of Europe. (After Unger.) 



Fig. 1408. — Leaf of Betula cuspidens, 

 and fruit of B. dryadum ; from the Lower 

 Miocene of Europe. Reduced. (After 

 Saporta and Brongniart.) 



Cretaceous of the United States, and likewise from the Cretaceous 

 of Greenland, but Dr Schenk suggests some doubt as to whether 

 these forms really belong to the living genera, and would prefer to 

 call them Alnophyllum and Betulophyllum. An allied Cretaceous 

 form has been named Alnites. In the Tertiary the existing genera 

 (figs. 1407, 1408) are well represented from the Eocene upwards. 

 In the next subgroup Cory/us (Hazel), Ostrya, and Carpinus (Horn- 



Fig. 1409. 



-Leaf of Dryophyllwn ; from the Lower Eocene of Europe. Reduced. 

 (After Saporta.) 



beam) also occur from the Eocene, while the former is recorded 

 from the Laramie. Fagus (Beech) dates from the Dakota stage, 

 which has also yielded remains referred to Castanea (Chestnut); and 

 Casta?iopsis has been recorded from the American Eocene, and the 

 Australian Tertiary, although it is suggested that some of the forms 

 so named may belong to Dryophyllum. The latter name is applied 



