THE COTTERS OF JAP-AJf. 481 



tation to be put on the fossilized remnants of plants, so far as 

 their specific identity is concerned, there is no reason to doubt 

 the existence of representatives of many existing genera in various 

 epochs of the world's history. Glyptostrobus, Taxodium, Sequoia, 

 and Ginkgo may be specially mentioned, on account of their 

 existence in high northern latitude* where they can no longer 

 grow, their wide distribution in former times, and the very 

 important inferences that have been drawn from these circum- 

 stances. It is noteworthy that neither Taxodium nor Sequoia 

 has hitherto been found in a living state in Japan*. 



Before leaving the subject of the distribution of Japanese 

 Conifers, a word may be said as to the occurrence of certain trees 

 (often of peculiar organization) in the immediate vicinity of the 

 temples in Japan, China, Tibet, &c. In some of these cases the 

 trees are not known in a wild state, the aboriginal stocks being 

 either extinct or lurking in some of the all but unknown districts 

 of the Chinese empire, Tibet, or Central Asia. Among such 

 may be mentioned, as worthy the attention of the students of 

 Buddhist lore, Cupressus funebris (China, Sikkim), Abies For- 

 tunei (China), Abies Keempferi (China), Cryptomeria japonica, 

 Sciadopitys verticillata, Ginkgo biloba, and certain species of 

 Pinus. 



Mention has already been made of the various forms under 



which one and the same species occur. Carriere has called these 



transitional or immature forms " larval " stages ; and I have 



alluded to them under the head of Stasimorphy in my ' Vegetable 



Teratology.' In many cases the appearances depend simply on 



greater or less energy of growth at particular times. Arrest and 



progress of growth in more or less regular alternation and inter- 



mittence will generally account for the diversity in form and 



arrangement of the leaves. The tufted leaves of the Pines and 



* See Heer, ' Catalogue of North-Greenland Miocene Plants ' (1866) ; also 



' Ueber einige fossile Pflanzen von Vancouver und britisch Columbien,' ' Die 



miocane Flora und Fauna Spitzbergens,' ' Primit. Flor. fossilis Sachalinensis ' 



(1878), "Zur Geschichte der Ginkgoartigen Baume " in Engler's Bot. Jahrb. i. 



(1880), p. 1, and ' Flora fossilis arctica ;' Asa Gray, Address, op. cit. ; Hilde- 



brand, " Verbreitung der Conif. in der Jetztzeit und in den friiheren geologiscben 



Perioden" (1861), Verbandl. d. natur. Ver. fur Kheinland und Westphal., neue 



Folge, viii. (this memoir gives a complete list of the existing and fossil species 



of Conifers known at the time of publication, together with indications of their 



geographical distribution) ; F. Schmidt, ' Die miocane Flora von Sachalin,' 1880 ; 



Engler, ' Versuch einer Entwickelungsgeschichte der Pflanzenwelt, &c. (1879) ; 



J. Starkie Gardner in 'Nature/ 1881, passim. 



