170 EDWARD WILBER BERRY 



nal form and consequently the geological range of these ancient 

 ferns. The remarkable results of the recent study of the Pterido- 

 spermae in the light of their seed habit has rendered scarcely 

 any Carboniferous fern inviolate and it would seem wise to heed 

 the warning of Professor Chodat of Geneva and take a new 

 inventory of the structure and especially of the affinities of the 

 different members of the so-called Cycadofilicales. Among the 

 Equisetales we need a more extensive knowledge of the Archaeo- 

 calamites group and of the Triassic Neocalamites as well as of 

 the ancestral Equisetums of that age. Among the Lycopodiales 

 we have demonstrated the complexity and almost seed bearing 

 habit of some of the members of the Paleozoic stock, but <a knowl- 

 edge of the Mesozoic representatives of this phylum would fill 

 a great gap in our knowledge. An occasional hint like the Lepido- 

 dendron-like cone from the Rhaetic recently described by Pro- 

 fessor Nathorst suggests that many interesting and important 

 facts are hidden in the Triassic rocks. Among the Filicales 

 we not only need such work as that of Kidston and Gwynne- 

 Vaughan on the Osmundaceae but we need to outgrow the neces- 

 sity for form-genera, especially in the post-paleozoic floras. The 

 progress of our knowledge of the Cycadophyta is being well looked 

 after by Nathorst abroad and Wieland in this country, while 

 Jeffrey is making momentous contributions to the anatomy of 

 the Mesozoic and recent Coniferales. The ancestry of the An- 

 giosperms is still a baffling problem in spite of the seductive 

 Cycadeoidea-theory based upon Wieland's excellent work. 

 Doubtless it will remain baffling until we have a better acquaint- 

 ance with the anatomy of the existing species and a rational 

 natural classification. 



Above all things we need individuality in morphological and 

 phylogenetic work and a greater immunity from infection by 

 the prevailing fashions in theory. The path that science has 

 trod is lined with the graves of theories, and it seems to me that 

 at the present time we are too uncritical, too ready to pay tribute 

 to workers who have made splendid contributions to knowledge 

 by our whole hearted acceptance of their theoretical deductions, 

 when we might perhaps be more useful in assisting in the burial 



