climates, are of such a character as could only
exist in tropical regions; and when, as in some of the newer formations,
the species are identical with those which now exist, the living type is
only found within the torrid zone. A still more curious fact, is their
identity in similar formations in different parts of the world. At the
present day, the same soil in Pennsylvania and England produces plants
of very different characters, and those which are native to each are of
wholly distinct genera and species, while the fossils that accompany the
coal in the two countries are precisely similar. But even those brought
by Parry from the polar region of Melville island, are identical with
those of England, and of course with those of this distant part of the
same hemisphere in which the former are formed, although the character
of the climate is so diverse. At the epoch of the coal formation, there
existed plants, of genera, which, in temperate climates, at present
rarely rise to more than a few inches in height, and which were at that
remote period of enormous size. Thus, the forus must have attained the
height of from fifty to sixty feet. At present, the forus assume the
size of a tree only in the very warmest climates, and even there, are
far inferior in magnitude to those of the coal formation. Now, it is
well known, that the large size of the living species is due to great
and constant heat, and copious moisture. Hence we may fairly infer that
similar circumstances existed even at Melville island, where, at the
present time, for the greater part of the year, the thermometer is below
the freezing point.

As further instances of the same kind, we may quote the following facts.
Faujas St. Fond found, in a marly slate, covered by lava, in France, the
tree cotton, the liquid amber styrax, the cassia fistula, and other
plants of tropical regions. The same observer found the fruit of the
arcea palm near Cologne. The elastic bitumen of Derbyshire in England,
is identical with the caoutchouc, which now grows only in the warmer
parts of South America; and the amber of Prussia appears to be a fossil
gum, similar to the Copal.

Among the more recent in formation of fossil vegetables, are the
bituminized woods; these are often buried to great depths by diluvian
action, but are never found in perfect rock. The most remarkable
instance of this kind is at Bovey-Heathfield, in England, and beneath is
found the retinasphaltum, that see