44 
SCENERY OF SWITZERLAND. 
quantities are brought to Zurich from the upper part 
of the lake. It contains beds of brown coal and is 
rich in fossils. Indeed the deposits at Oeningen 
contain perhaps the richest collection of fossils in the 
world. Taking the Miocene period as a whole we 
know nearly 1000 species of plants and 1000 in- 
sects; of reptiles 32 species have been discovered, 
whereas in Switzerland now there are only 27. As 
regards Mammals 59 have been determined, while 
at present Switzerland contains 62; but though the 
numbers are so nearly the same, the species are all 
different and belong to very different groups. Of the 
present species 15 are bats, but no bat has been 
found in the Swiss Miocene. It contains on the 
other hand no less than 25 Pachyderms. The Wild 
Boar is the only present representative of the order, 
but during the Miocene period Tapirs and tapir-like 
Palseotheria, the horse-like Anchitherium, two species 
of Mastodon, the Dinotherium and no less than 5 
species of Rhinoceros, roamed over the Swiss woods 
and plains. Of plants we know already 1000 species. 
Many resemble, and are probably ancestral forms of, 
those now flourishing in very distant parts of the 
world. Thus there are several Sequoias, one of which 
(Sequoia Langsdorfii) closely resembles the Redwood 
of California, and another (Sequoia Sternbergii) the 
