ARCTIC INTERGLACIAL PERIODS. 189 



genial, humid, and equable climate having formerly 



characterised Northern France. The presence of the 



laurel, and that variety of it which is most susceptible 



to cold, shows us that the winters must have been mild, 



for this plant flowers during that season, and repeated 



frosts, says Saporta, would prevent it reproducing its 



kind. It is a mild winter rather than a hot summer 



which the laurel demands, and the same may be said 



of the fig-tree. The olive, on the other hand, requires 



prolonged summer heat to enable it to perform its vital 



functions. Saporta describes the fig-tree of the La 



Celle tufa as closely approximating, in the size and 



shape of its leaves and fruit, to that of the tufas in the 



south of France, and to those of Asia Minor, Kurdistan, 



and Armenia. But if the winters in Northern France 



were formerly mild and genial, the summers were 



certainly more humid, and probably not so hot. This 



is proved by the presence of several plants in the tufa 



of La Celle which cannot endure a hot arid climate, 



but abound in the shady woods of Northern France 



and Germany." 



The plants found in the tufas of Canstadt are much 



similar to those of Moret. Mr. Ho worth, in regard to 



the deposits of those places, says : — " The co-existence 



of the species found there, remarks M. Saporta, proves 



very clearly that, notwithstanding the variations due 



to latitude, Europe, from the Mediterranean to its 



central districts, offered fewer contrasts, and was more 



uniform than it is now. A more equable climate, 



damp and clement, allowed the Acer pseudo-platanua 



and the fig to live associated together near Paris, as it 



allowed the reindeer and hyaena. The Acer grows 



with difficulty now where the Fie us grows wild, while 



the latter has to be protected in winter in the latitude 



of Paris."* 



* "Geol. Mag." June, 1881. 



