172 EDWARD WILBER BERRY 



Any adequate summary of the present status of the study 

 of fossil plants throughout the world, embracing as it does the 

 pursuit of so many and different goals, would carry us so far 

 afield that the ultimate analysis would lose interest, so that what 

 follows may be taken as merely a running commentary rather 

 than a detailed inventory, after which a few paragraphs will be 

 devoted to pointing out some of the desirable lines of advance, 

 more especially in North America. 



Taking up the study of paleobotany by geographic divisions 

 we will consider first our kin beyond the sea. In Great Britain 

 the study of fossil plants has always meant little else than the 

 study of the calcareous petrifactions of the Coal Measures and 

 similar structural remains. Under the leadership of the late 

 W. C. Williamson and his still abler pupil Scott, epoch making 

 contributions have been made to morphology and phylogeny 

 and a large number of younger workers are actively engaged 

 at the present time in adding to the structure whose founda- 

 tion was laid by Williamson. Each month furnishes gratifying- 

 proof of the activity of our colleagues in England and Scotland 

 along the lines of work just mentioned. With the exception of 

 Professor Seward's splendid work on the rich Jurassic flora, 

 more particularly of Yorkshire, and of the Wealden flora of the 

 south of England, and that of Dr. Kidston on the Carboniferous 

 floras, the much more abundant remains of former plants pre- 

 served as impressions have been almost entirely neglected. Such 

 attempts as have been made in the study of this class of remains 

 have been relatively poor as compared for example with the 

 splendid work which Nathorst in Sweden is doing, or with the 

 work of the French paleobotanists, past and present. Without 

 any abatement in the work along existing lines which would 

 be deplorable, there is need for a more thorough study of British 

 Cretaceous floras and the general student and geologist would 

 welcome a careful description of the splendid series of Tertiary 

 floras of that country, so long known but never adequately 

 studied. 



Crossing the channel we find the French fully maintaining the 

 standard set by Brongniart, Saporta and Renault. The work 



