THE GEOLOGIST. 
39 
that these most useful plants, amongst which we find the apple, 
the pear, the medlar, the strawberry, the peach, the apricot, the 
almond, the plum, &c., &c., only made their appearance on the 
globe with the advent of man. We see, however, by the above, 
that four species of the Rosacece family have been detected in the 
Schlossnitz Tertiary by Professor Goeppert. 
For the materials upon which Professor Goeppert has worked to 
form his tertiary flora of Java, he is indebted to M. Junghuhn, the 
ingenious naturalist to whom we owe a detailed description of the 
geology of this interesting island, published in Dutch and German. 
— The fossils of Java appear to belong to the Eocene period, i.e., 
to the oldest Tertiary beds. A singular circumstance immediately 
strikes us as we examine these fossils ; the petrified trunks of trees 
that have been brought to light in the tertiary formations of Java 
are, without exception. Dicotyledonous plants, whilst the forests 
that flourish at the present time on the island are composed of 
palms and arborescent ferns. However we must not attach too 
great an importance to this fact, for, the other fossils, i.e., those 
not petrified, found in these regions, seem to imply that it is merely 
an accidental occurrence. 
The number of species collected by M. Junghuhn amounts only to 
thirty-nine, amongst which we find : six Palms, five Lauracea, five 
Celastraeae, three MagnoUacese, three Coryloceae (all belonging to 
the genus Quercus), three Pipracese, two plants of the genus Ficus, 
two Apocynaceae, two Rhanmacese ; of the Musacese, Malpighiaceee, 
Zingiberacese, Comaceae, and Ebenacse, each one ; we have also a 
species of Fungus, and three doubtful genera. 
This small collection however is sufficient to rivet our attention on 
two striking facts : I st. The plants of which it is composed are all 
new ; 2nd. The families to which they belong still abound in Java. 
The vegetative system of this island has therefore not changed 
since the tertiary periods — which is contrary to what we observe in 
Europe — the whole of the species discovered as yet and a few 
genera only, are alone found to be difierent. 
