18-4 Scientific Intelligence — Geology. 



January of this year, in the immediate neighbourhood of Breslau, 

 at Schossnitz, near Kanth, on the railroad ; it is a bed of fossil 

 plants in tertiary clay, and is unique in richness, variety, and ad- 

 mirable preservation. From the end of January up to the beginning 

 of March, there were already discovered no less than 130 species 

 in about six hundredweight of clay ; and every fresh quantity ex- 

 amined gives additional results. Dr Goppert has read a very in- 

 teresting paper upon the results of the examination thus far made, 

 before the Natural History Section of the Breslau Society. The 

 clay is of a whitish colour ; the plants seldom preserve their origi- 

 nal texture, but usually occur as impressions of a pale brown colour, 

 in which, however, they are displayed with such precision, that even 

 the delicate anthers of the catkins of the willow tribe are readily dis- 

 tinguishable. These anthers, as well as those of the male catkins 

 of the plane tribe, occasionally exhibit the pollen. With respect to 

 the families and genera, it may be said that they agree, speaking in 

 a general way, with those of the other local floras of the brown coal 

 formation. The species are, however, for the most part different; 

 only one species has been hitherto observed, Libocedrites salicor- 

 nioides, that is met with in Silesia, in amber, and in the brown coal 

 formation of other parts of Germany. Of the 130 species that have 

 been found at Schossnitz up to the beginning of March, there are 

 no less than 113 which are new. As a peculiarity in this tertiary 

 flora, may be cited the considerable number of oaks, of which al- 

 ready 25 varieties have been observed, whereas at present only 13 

 are known to occur in Europe, and for the most part the species 

 discovered belong to those with incised leaves. There are, more- 

 over, no less than 17 varieties of elm, some unquestionable planes, 

 and varieties of maple, perfectly distinct from any hitherto observed. 

 The genera Daphnogene, Ceonanthus, Dombyayopsis, and Taxodium, 

 have been also met with. It need hardly be observed, that our ac- 

 quaintance with the riches of this recently-discovered deposit is as 

 yet necessarily very imperfect. Palms, which are met with in other 

 tertiary deposits in the immediate neighbourhood, have not thus far 

 been found ; indeed, no monocotyledons have been observed, with 

 the exception of a few leaves of grass. The origin of the deposit 

 has been explained on the supposition that there existed here for- 

 merly an inland lake, into which the leaves and blossoms of the trees 

 that perished on its banks were carried by the wind, and became 

 subsequently imbedded in the clayey mud. This recently-discovered 

 deposit bears out the idea, that although the majority of the genera 

 of the plants occurring in the tertiary formation are similar to those 

 now met with in Europe, although the species are different, and 

 agree rather with African forms than ours; yet that this formation, 

 speaking generally, contains a flora distinct from that of the actual 

 flora of the districts mentioned, and analogous rather to that of 

 countries situated several degrees more to the south ; the flora of the 



