lilSTRinUTION OF RECENT AND FOSSIL PALMS. 515 
Suggests the propriety of consigning to this part 
of our subject the few observations we have to 
wiake on their history. 
The existing family of Palms* is supposed to 
Consist of nearly a thousand species, of which the 
greater number are limited to peculiar regions of 
the torrid Zone. If we look to the geological 
^listory of this large and beautiful family, we 
shall find that although it was called into ex- 
istence, together with the most early vegetable 
forms of the Transition period, it presents very 
few species in the Coal formation, (See Lindley’s 
Poss. Flora, No. XV, PI. 142, P. 163,) and occurs 
sparingly in the Secondary series but in the 
Tertiary formation we have abundant stems and 
leaves, and fruits, derived from Palms.| 
Fossil Trunks of Palm Trees. 
The fossil stems of Palms are referrible to many 
species; they occur beautifully silicified in the 
Tertiary deposits of Hungary, and in the Calcaire 
Grossier of Paris. § Trunks of Palms are found 
* See PI. 1, Figs. 66, 67, 68. 
t See Spreiigel’s Account of Endogenites Palmacites in New 
sandstone, near Chemnitz, (Halle, 1828.) and Cotta’s Den- 
'I'^olithen, (Dresden and Leipsig, 1832, PI. ix, x.) 
t Eight species in the family of Palms are given in Ad. Brong- 
''•art’s list of the fossils of the Tertiaiy Series. 
^ Our figure, PI. 64, Fig. 2, represents the summit of a beau- 
