Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 27.djvu/752

 3. On the Flora, of the Brown Coal of Sagor, Carniola.

By Professor C. von Ettingshausen.

[Imperial Academy of Sciences, Vienna, April 13, 1871.]

Up to the year 1820 only 9 species belonging to this flora were known, and these were described by Unger in his ' Genera et Species Plantarum fossilium.' In 1850 Prof. C. von Ettingshausen commenced a careful investigation of this Flora, representatives of which are now known to occur in fourteen distinct localities at Sagor and in the neighbouring districts of Carniola and Styria ; and he has now completed the first part of his description, embracing the Thallophytes, Vascular Cryptogams, Gymnosperms, Monocotyledons and Apetala. A species of Sphoeria from Sagor is most nearly allied to Sphoeria annulata from Greenland. A Floridean Alga, analogous to Laurencia, indicates the presence of salt water, and is the only marine plant of the flora of Sagor.

The Gymnosperms number 15 species ; and among them is an Actinostrobus of Australian type, the six-valved strobiles of which has been found in two localities. The prevalent conifers are Glyptostrobus europoeus and Sequoia Couttsioe, the branches, strobiles, and inflorescence of which have been met with at nearly every locality. Other species of Sequoia are S. Langsdorfi, S. Tournali, and S. Sternbergi. A new and remarkable fact is the presence of a Cunninghamia in these Tertiary deposits. A fragment of a branch strikingly similar in every respect to Cunninghamia sinensis, R. Brown, has been found in a quarry near Savine. The genus Pinus includes six species, each generally represented by complete clusters of leaves and by the cones.

As at Sotzka and Haring, the number of Gramineae is very small. The Najadeae are remarkable in numbers and forms, including two species of Potamogeton, one of Zostera, one of Najadopsis, and one of Najadonium, all inhabitants of fresh water. The Pandaneae and Palms are each represented by one species. Casuarina sotzkensis, which is frequent in all Tongrian and Aquitanian floras, occurs here, and with it a new species, nearly allied to the existing C. quadrivalvis. The other apetalous families of the Sagor flora are represented as follows: — Myricaceae by 3, Betulaceae by 6, Cupuliferae by 15, Ulmaceae by 4, Celtideae by 2, Artocarpeae by 2, Salicineae by 2, Nyctagineae by 1, Monimiaceae by 1, Santalaceae by 4, Daphnoideae by 2, Proteaceae by 21, Laurineae by 18, and Moreae by 19 species. Most of the species of the last two families present a tropical aspect. [Count M.]