104 Rilcii — Some Tnterrelafwni< of PJrnifs and Tnseds. 



« 



pends the one on tlie other. As pakeontology shows, and us 

 Professor Ward has more particuhirly so well exi)lained, there 

 was for a,Q;es no vegetation l)ut the flowerless plants. The first 

 were the low cellular cryptogams, consisting chiefly of marine 

 alga\ and these, the lowest and first organisms u])on the planet, 

 have endured through all geologic time and obtain to-day. 

 Next, beginning in the upper Silurian and reaching tlieir max- 

 imum in the Carboniferous, came the vascular cryptogams, of 

 wdiich the ferns constituted the bulk. Arl»()rescent and gigan- 

 tic compared with present forms, they mingled witli tiie now 

 extinct Lycopodinea? to form the bulk of the forests of the coal 

 period. Then came the Phamogams, or flowej-ing plants, and 

 in this great division the Cj^cadacea^ and coniferie (pines, firs, 

 etc.) were the chief forms during Mesozoic times. So far the 

 seed has been exposed. Now come the Angiosperms, in which 

 the seed is ])rotected in the ovary or pericarp, and the Monocoty- 

 ledons (palms, sedges, etc.) [)recede the Dicotyledons, while of 

 these last the Apetalffi, PolypetaUe, and (Tamoj)otahv succeed 

 each other in the order of their naming. 



In 1)rief, to use his ow'u words, the development has been from 

 the simple to the complex ; from the flowerless to the flower- 

 ing; from the endogenous to the exogenous ; from the a})etalous 

 to the gamopetalous ; and this succession corresponds to the 

 best systems of classification of existing forms. 



Both Cryptogams and Phanogams began existence during 

 tlie Silurian, and there has been a race for supremacy ever since, 

 with our present flora as the result. It is also a f;ict of the 

 greatest significance that the same pala?ontological evidence 

 which gives us this record also tells us that there has been a 

 corresponding development of insect life, from the lower Neu- 

 roptera and Orthoptera, which prevailed in the days when 

 Anemophilous plants reigned, to the higher Lepidoptera and 

 Ilymenoptera, which appeared only as the higher flowering 

 ])lants developed in the Jurassic and Cretaceous. 



I do not hesitate, in this connection, to refer to another of 

 Professor Ward's conclusions set forth in one of his interesting 

 articles, namely, that most of the higher flowering })]ants would 

 speedily perish were insect aid withdrawn, and tliaf 1»ut for 

 such aid in the past we should now l>e wifliout most of our 

 gorgeous flora, and tliat insects have actually i)aved the way for 

 man's oxisfeiu'e I)y tli(^ ])arf tliev hav(> i)layed in flie (hn'elo])- 

 ment of fiHiit and nut hearing ]>laiits. 



