. Elements of geology, or, The ancient changes of the earth and its inhabitants as illustrated by geological monuments. Geology. 254 UPPER MIOCENE FLORA OF (ENINGEN. [Cn. XV. called Acer trilohatum, fig. 182, may be taken as a normal representa- tive of the (Eningen fossil, and fig. 183 as one of the most divergent varieties, having almost four lobes in the leaf instead of three. We have a remarkable example in fig. 185 of the preservation of the female flower, enabling the botanist to recognize the resemblance between the petals of the Miocene species and those of-the living Acer ruhrum, fig.
. Elements of geology, or, The ancient changes of the earth and its inhabitants as illustrated by geological monuments. Geology. 254 UPPER MIOCENE FLORA OF (ENINGEN. [Cn. XV. called Acer trilohatum, fig. 182, may be taken as a normal representa- tive of the (Eningen fossil, and fig. 183 as one of the most divergent varieties, having almost four lobes in the leaf instead of three. We have a remarkable example in fig. 185 of the preservation of the female flower, enabling the botanist to recognize the resemblance between the petals of the Miocene species and those of-the living Acer ruhrum, fig. 184.* In like manner the fossil specimen, fig. 186 b, shows how much more pointed were the winged appendages of the seed-vessels than are those of the most nearly allied living species, fig. 184 a. Among the genera which abounded in the Miocene period in Eu- rope is the plane-tree, Platanus, the fos- sil species being considered by Heer to come nearer to the American P. occiden- talis than to P. orientalis of Greece and Asia Minor. In some of the fossil speci- mens the male flowers are preserved. Among other points of resemblance with the living plane-trees, as we see them in the parks and squares of Lon- don, fossil fragments of the trunk are met with, having pieces of their bark peeling off. No leaves of the beech-tree or of the chestnut have yet been found in any Mio- cene strata of Switzerland, although in formations of the same age in Germany, leaves of one of them, namely, the beech, have been detected. Many species of the laurel tribe characterize the flora both of the Upper. Platanus aceroides, Gopp Heer, pi. 88, figs. 5-8. Size | diam. Upper Miocene, (Eningen. a. Leaf. b. The core of a bundle of pericarps, c Single fruit or pericarp, nat. size. Fisr. 188. Fig. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectgeology, bookyear1868
