"Besides the different members of the Eocene formation, properly so called, of the Paris basin, I comprehend in this Flora the fossils of the same formation in England, at the Isle of Wight, and Isle of Sheppey in the London basin. These latter fossils, consisting almost solely of fruits transformed into pyrites, constitute a whole which has no analogue in any other of the Tertiary basins of Europe; not only in the number and diversity of these fruits, but in their peculiar characters, which remove them widely from the plants whose leaves occur in the other beds of the same geological epoch. Everything, therefore, would lead us to suppose that these fruits, although belonging to plants cotemporaneous with the Eocene deposits of Europe, have been brought from distant countries by marine currents, just as fruits are still brought from the equatorial regions of America to the coasts of Ireland or Norway by the great current of the Atlantic. The deposit in the Isle of Sheppey appears therefore to be an accidental case in the Eocene deposits, and the Paris basin presents none of these fossils. "The Tertiary basin of Belgium, which follows that of London, has yielded, near Brussels, some fossil fruits in very small numbers, but which appear identical with one of the genera most abundant at Sheppey. This is the _Nipadites_, considered at first as a species of Coco, under the name of _Cocus burtini_. "Lastly, following the advice of my learned associate, M. Elie de Beaumont, I have included in the same Flora the plants contained in the Lignites of the shores of the Baltic and Pomerania, so rich in amber, in which these vegetables have often been preserved. It is to the labours of M. Goeppert that we are indebted for a knowledge of these vegetables, most frequently represented by very small fragments, the relations of which he has determined with much skill and accuracy." With materials collected in these various localities, but of which the greater part are still unpublished, we may construct the Flora of the Eocene epoch; but the list, comprehending only the species described, or at least determined, is only a mere sketch. M. Brongniart then gives the names of the vegetables belonging to the Eocene epoch; these are, for the Amphigenous cryptogams, algæ, and mushrooms; for the Acrogenous cryptogams, hepatici, mosses, ferns, equisetaceæ, and characeæ. The Monocotyledons present Naiades, Nipaceæ, and palms. The Gymnospermous dicotyledons are represented by Coniferæ (Cupressinæ, Abietineæ, Taxineæ, and Gnetaceæ.) Lastly, among the Angiospermous dicotyledons, we find examples of Betulaceæ, Cupuliferæ, Juglandeæ, Ulmaceæ, Proteaceæ, Leguminosæ, OEnothereæ, Cucurbitaceæ, Sapindaceæ, Malvaceæ, Ericaceæ, and three doubtful families (Phyllites, Antholithes, and Carpolithes.) "The most remarkable characters of this Flora are,--