“Two hundred and twelve species compose this rich flora, in which the Ferns of the earlier ages of the world are scarcely indicated, where the Palms seem to have quite disappeared, and we see forms much more like those which are constantly under our observation. The _Culmites arundinaceus_ (Unger) abounds near the water, where also grows the _Cyperites tertiarius_ (Unger), where floats _Dotamogeton geniculatus_ (Braun), and where we see submerged _Isoctites Brunnii_ (Unger). Great Conifers still form the forests. This fine family has, as we have seen, passed through every epoch, and still presents us with its elegant forms and persistent evergreen foliage; _Taxodites_, _Thuyoxylum_, _Abietites_, _Pinites_, _Eleoxylon_, and _Taxites_ being still the forms most abundant in these old natural forests. “The predominating character of this period is the abundance of the group of the Amentaceæ; whilst the Conifers are thirty-two in number, of the other we reckon fifty-two species, among which are many European genera, such as _Alnus_; _Quercus_, the oak; _Salix_, the willow; _Fagus_, the beech; _Betula_, the birch, &c. “The following families constitute the arborescent flora of the period besides those already mentioned:--Balsaminaceæ, Lauraceæ, Thymelæaceæ, Santalaceæ, Cornaceæ, Myrtaceæ, Calycanthaceæ, Pomaceæ, Rosaceæ, Amygdaleæ, Leguminosæ, Anacardiaceæ, Juglandaceæ, Rhamnaceæ, Celastrinaceæ, Sapindaceæ, Meliaceæ, Aceraceæ, Tiliaceæ, Magnoliaceæ, Capparidaceæ, Sapoteaceæ, Styracaceæ, Oleaceæ, Juncaceæ, Ericaceæ. “In all these families great numbers of European genera are found, often even more abundant in species than now. Thus, as Brongniart observes, in this flora we reckon fourteen species of Maple; three species of Oak; and these species proceed from two or three very circumscribed localities, which would not probably, at the present time, represent in a radius of several leagues more than three or four species of these genera.” An important difference distinguishes the Pliocene flora, as compared with those of preceding epochs, it is the absence of the family of Palms in the European flora, as noted by Lecoq, which forms such an essential botanical feature in the Miocene period. We mention this, because, in spite of the general analogy which exists between the vegetation of the Pliocene period and that of temperate regions in the present day, it does not appear that there is a single species of the former period absolutely identical with any one now growing in Europe. Thus, the European vegetation, even at the most recent geological epoch, differs specifically from the vegetation of our age, although a general resemblance is observable between the two. [Illustration: Fig. 174.--Skeleton of the Mastodon of Turin.]