- 9 - Already at the very beginning of the excavation, leaves of Quercus sosnowskyi Kolak. named in honour of the well-known Cau- casian botanist D.I.Sosnowsky from the Cerris section are co- mon. Its nearest analogues in present-day floras are the West - Mediterranean species Quercus suber L. and Q.alnifolia Poesch(the latter has been preserved only on the Island of Cyprus), as well as Q.semecarpifolia Smith from the Suber section which grows in the mountains of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and China (Cytchu- an). They are all sclerophyllous oaks, which form the peculiar formations characteristic of the Mediterranean Region and South- West Asia. Q.suber is a rather mesophilous plant. Forests of it are situated at higher elevations than Q.ilex L. and maquis. The fo- essil Q.sosnowskyi was probably also a mesophilous plant; this is partly confirmed by the presence of mesophilous species Carpi- nus: C.cuspides (Sap.) Kolak., C.uniserrata (Kolak.) Rat. Neve- rtheless, in the composition of these forests there are many re- presentatives of maquis. The most characteristic of these, which might be encountered in our excavation, are Smilax aspera L. fo- essilis, Cotinus coggygia-fossilis Kolak., Arbutus elegans Ko- lak., Laurus nobilis L. fossilis, Myrtus rectinervis Sap., Pistacia terebinthus L. fossilis, P.miochinen- sis Hu et Chaney, Celtis magnifica Kolak. The sclerophyllous oak forests of Q.sosnowskyi were probab- ly two-strata forests,with evergreen understiry chiefly of Ilex falsani Sap. et Mar., I.gracilis Kolak., I.horrida Sap. and Ca- mellia abchasics Kolak. Other floriferous strata of Kodor, as well as stratum V, are very often overflowing with remnants of leaves of Quercus sosnowskyi. This also permits us to assume the existence of other forest formations, such as the lowland fo- rests of Quercus neriifolia A.Br., oak-hickory forests of Q.ko- dorica and Carya denticulata. Alder groves on the swampy low- lands and river banks of Alnus subcordata C.A.Mey. fossilis were also rather widespread" on the maritime lowlands of Abkhazia.This has been confirmed by similar strata in other places. Alnus sub- cordata fossilis is closely related to the present-day A.subcor-