226 



Baron Ettingshausen. 



[Dec. 19, 



has formed itself through the greater development of one element which 

 has become the "Haupt-Florenglied" (principal member of a Flora) ; 

 such as, for instance, has occurred in the Flora of Australia,* and of the 

 Cape.f The rest of the genetic members have remained rudimentary. 

 The Endemic species of European, Asiatic, and East Indian genera 

 are, in the above-mentioned Floras, the representatives of these 

 " Nebenglieder " (secondary members). 



Thirdly, that the species of fossil plants inclined much more to the 

 formation of varieties than those of living plants, and that the varieties 

 of the fossil species, for the most part, correspond with the species of 

 existing Flora. I have proved this in the case the Pinus pulceo-strobus, 

 the varieties of which so entirely correspond with many of the recent 

 Pinus species, that the former must be recognised as the original 

 forms of the latter. At some future time, I hope to publish a demon- 

 stration of the genetic connexion of the varieties of many other 

 Tertiary plants with species of plants in the living world. 



Y. — Results relating to the Eocene Flora of Great Britain. 



The very extensive materials which I have had under examination 

 were principally those of the collections of the British Museum and 

 that of Mr. John S. Gardner, and I have here to express to Mr. H. 

 "Woodward and Mr. Carruthers, as well as to Mr. Gardner, my most 

 grateful thanks for their willing aid. I desire, also, especially to 

 acknowledge my deep obligation to the Royal Society, from which 

 I have received a grant for the investigation of the Eocene Flora of 

 Great Britain. Mr. Gardner has gained for himself well deserved 

 acknowledgments for the important services he has rendered in dis- 

 covering and obtaining a vast collection of the Eocene Flora of Great 

 Britain, and it has given me great satisfaction to have been associated 

 with him in the study of this fossil Flora. 



As the geology of the localities of the Eocene Flora of Great Britain 

 has been already published by Mr. Gardner, I proceed at once to those 

 results which the investigation of this Flora have, up to the present 

 time, produced. These results can only be partially indicated now, as 

 the comparing of the fossil Flora of Great Britain with other Floras 

 will not be published until the investigations are completed. For the 

 present, the monographic work of the Filices is finished in manuscript. 



The Eocene Flora of Great Britain is distinguished by a series of 

 tropical forms of ferns. Of these are especially to be named the 

 peculiar genera of Podoloma and Glossochlamys, which connect them- 

 selves mostly with tropical forms of Polypodium; then the peculiar 

 genus Menyphyllum most nearly related to the tropical Aspidiacece. 



* Ettingshausen, " Die genetische Grliedemng der Flora Australiens," " Denk- 

 schriften der Wiener Akademie der Wissenschaften," Band xxxvii. 



f Ettingshausen, " Die genetische Grliederung der Cap-Flora," " Sitzungsber. der 

 Wiener Akademie der Wissenschaften," Band lxxi. 



