Fig. 234.—Miocene Palms A, Chamœrops Helvetica; B, Sabal major. Lower Miocene of Switzerland and France. along with numerous Conifers. The most abundant of these last is a gigantic pine—the Sequoia Couttsiœ—which is
Fig. 235.—Platanus aceroides, an Upper Miocene Plane-tree. a, Leaf; b, The core of a bundle of fruits; c, A single fruit.
Fig. 236.—Cinnamomum polymorphum. a, Leaf; b, Flower. Upper Miocene. very nearly allied to the huge Sequoia (Wellingtonia) gigantea of California. A nearly-allied form (Sequoia Langsdorffi) has been detected in the leaf-bed of Ardtun, in the Hebrides.
In Greenland, as well as in other parts of the Arctic regions, Miocene strata have been discovered which have yielded a great number of plants, many of which are identical with species found in the European Miocene. Amongst these plants are found many trees, such as Conifers, Beeches, Oaks, Maples, Plane-trees, Walnuts, Magnolias, &c., with numerous shrubs, ferns, and other smaller plants. With regard to the Miocene flora of the Arctic regions, Sir Charles Lyell remarks that "more than thirty species of Coniferæ have been found, including several Sequoias (allied to the gigantic Wellingtonia of California), with species of Thujopsis and Salisburia, now peculiar to Japan. There are also beeches, oaks, planes, poplars, maples, walnuts, limes, and even a magnolia, two cones of which have recently been obtained, proving that this splendid evergreen not only lived but ripened its fruit within the Arctic circle. Many of the limes, planes, and oaks were large-leaved species; and both flowers and fruits, besides immense quantities of leaves, are in many cases preserved. Among the shrubs are many evergreens, as Andromeda, and two extinct genera, Daphnogene and M'Clintockia, with fine leathery leaves, together with hazel, blackthorn, holly, logwood, and hawthorn. A species of Zamia (Zimites) grew in the swamps, with Potamogeton, Sparganium, and Menyanthes; while ivy and villes twined around the forest-trees, and broad-leaved ferns grew beneath their shade. Even in Spitzbergen, as far north as lat. 78° 56', no less than ninety-five species of fossil plants have been obtained, including Taxodium of two species, hazel, poplar, alder, beech, plane-tree, and lime. Such a vigorous growth of trees within 12° of the pole, where now a dwarf willow and a few herbaceous plants form the only vegetation, and where the ground is covered with almost perpetual snow and ice, is truly remarkable."
Taking the Miocene flora as a whole, Dr Heer concludes from his study of about 3000 plants contained in the European Miocene alone, that the Miocene plants indicate tropical or sub-tropical conditions, but that there is a striking inter-mixture of forms which are at present found in countries widely removed from one another. It is impossible to state with certainty how many of the Miocene plants belong to existing species, but it appears that the larger number are extinct. According to Heer, the American types of plants are most largely represented in the Miocene flora, next those of Europe and Asia, next those of Africa, and lastly those of Australia. Upon the whole, however, the Miocene flora of Europe is mostly nearly allied to the plants which we now find inhabiting the warmer parts of the United States; and this has led to the suggestion that in Miocene times the Atlantic Ocean was dry land, and that a migration of American plants to Europe was thus permitted. This view is borne out by the fact that the Miocene plants of Europe are most nearly allied to the living plants of the eastern or Atlantic seaboard of the United States, and also by the occurrence of a rich Miocene flora in Greenland. As regards Greenland, Dr Heer has determined that the Miocene plants indicate a temperate climate in that country, with a mean annual temperature at least 30° warmer than it is at present.
The present limit of trees is the isothermal which gives the mean temperature of 500 Fahr. in July, or about the parallel of 67° N. latitude. In Miocene times, however, the Limes, Cypresses, and Plane-trees reach the 79th degree of latitude, and the Pines and Poplars must have ranged even further north than this.
The Invertebrate Animals of the Miocene period are very numerous, but they belong for the most part to existing types, and they can only receive scanty consideration here. The little shells of Foraminifera are extremely abundant in some beds, the genera being in many cases such as now flourish abundantly in our seas. The principal forms belong to the genera Textularia (fig. 237), Robulina, Glandulina, Polystomella, Amplistegina,
