Page:The Scientific Monthly vol. 3.djvu/168

162 i62 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

on the easty through 140 degrees of longitude or a distance nei way around the world.

The flora has been found at yerj many localities in Europ ated with this fauna — ^in Portugal^ France^ Italy, Oermany and out the Austrian empire. The less precise work, or possibly th< of as good material because of the inadequate facilities for pret in the river fioodplain deposits of Asia has hitherto preventec sembling of data regarding the Pliocene flora of the latter contii both Europe and Asia, however, this flora is foimd beyond th limits of the fauna. A notable instance is that furnished by t remains found in the brick clays of the Holland-Prussian bo] recently monographed by Clement Beid^ and Laurent.'

This remarkable flora contains upwards of 300 species and striking similarity to the living flora of the uplands of westei and to its more or less allied geographical provinces, i. e., Ja Himalayas, eastern Tibet and the Malay Peninsula. A mon relationship is shown with the existing flora of Europe or the C and a still more remote relationship with the existing flora c America.

This oriental character, using that term in the sense of its tion to existing floral distribution, is shown by the presence in ] during the late Pliocene of forms like Onetum scandens, Zelkou PymJaria edtUis, Magnolia Jcohus, Prunus maodmoviczii, 8 pseudo-camellia, etc., no longer natives of Europe, as well as l sentatives of genera such as Melvosma, Actinidva, Corylopsis, * theca, etc., not found in the existing European flora but repress closely allied species in China. Even when the genus is still a of the European flora, the fossil species appears to be closer to t ing Asiatic rather than the existing European representative, ae ample, in the genera Pterocarya, Styrax, BettUa, Comus, Clemat\ tofium, etc. There are among the fossils, however, a number < seeded forms that are still represented in the flora of Europe which may be mentioned Picea exceUa, Quercus roiwr, Carpinus Corylus a/vellana, Prunus speciosa. Ilex aquifolium, Viiis vifUj Fagus cf. sUvatica,

1 Beid, C, and E. M., ''Preliminary Note on the Fossil Plants fron Brunssom and Bwalmen," Tijdsdh, Kon, Ned. Aardrijhe. OenooUohap Deel XXVni., afl. 4, 1911, pp. 645-647; <<The PUocene Floras of tl Prussian Border," Mededeelingen Bijkeopsporing van Delfttoffen, N( Hagae, 1915, 178 pp., 4 tf ., 20 pis.

sin Jongmans, W., ''Bapport over zijne paleobot," Bijhsopspo Defstoffen, Jahren 1908-11, pp. 23-25; Laurent, L., "Note preliminaire des plantes pliocenes des argiles du gisement de Beuver et des j voisins," Ibidem, Jahren 1914, 4 pp., 1915.

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