Page:Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology, 1837, volume 1.djvu/392

 388 every known living species. These leaves are too well preserved to have endured tranport by water from a distant region, and must apparently be referred to extinct species, which, in the Tertiary period, were indigenous in Europe.

No pinnated Palm leaf has yet been found in the Tertiary Strata, although the number of these ibrms among existing palms, is more than double that of the flabelliform leaves.

Many fossil fruits of the Tertiary period belong to the family of Palms, all of which, according to M. Ad. Brongniart, seem derived from Genera that have pinnated leaves. Several such fruits occur in the Tertiary clay of the Island of Sheppey; among which are the Date, now peculiar to Africa and India; the Cocoa-nut, which grows universally within the tropics; the Bactris, which is limited to America; and the Areca, which is found only in Asia. Not one of these can be referred to any flabelliform palm. Fossil Cocoa-nuts occur also at Brussels, and at Liblar near Cologne, together with fruits of the Areca.