LINNEAJf SOCIETY OF LONDOX. 77 



Palaeozoic Spermophyta — had a common origin witli the Pterido- 

 sperms, and consequently that they also were ultimately derived 

 from the Fern phylum. This meant that practically all the 

 Palaeozoic seed-plants (if we except the quasi-seminiferous Lyco- 

 pods) were of Filicinean origin. 



Up to this point I do not think there has been any very serious 

 difference of opinion among modern botanists who have considered 

 the question. I have already mentioned that the affinity of the 

 Maidenhair trees with the Cordaitales is generally recognized. I 

 am unwilling, at the close of tliis address, to embark on the con- 

 troversy as to the origin of the Coniferse, a question with which I 

 have lately dealt in print. Strange to say, the morphology of the 

 cone in this familiar order of plants is still very imperfectly 

 understood ; I am convinced that a thorough comparative re- 

 investigation of the wliole family will be needed before the question 

 of their affinities can be cleared up. A vast amount of good work 

 has been and is being done, but a broad synthesis is urgently 

 needed. 



There are so many points in common between the Conifers and 

 the Cordaitales, both in the anatomy and in the morphology of the 

 fructifications, especially the male, that I cannot doubt that tliese 

 classes are allied, an opinion in which I believe nearly all botanists 

 agree, though my friend Prof. !Se\^ard is a serious exception. 

 If we accept this relationship, we cannot escape the conclusion 

 that the Conifers were ultimately, though remotely, derived from 

 the same ancient Fern-stock with the Pteridosperms and the 

 Cycadophyta. 



I have already touched on the great question of the origin of 

 the Angiosperms. It is clear that if the views now so widely 

 held of their relation to the Mesozoic Cycadophytes should be 

 confirmed, they also must fall into line with the rest of the 

 Spermophyta. At any rate, without prejudging a problem which 

 will long continue to engage the chief interest of botanical 

 evolutionists, one may safely say that the only tenable or intelli- 

 gible theory of the origin of Angiosperms at present before the 

 scientific world, involves their derivation from the Cycad-Pteri- 

 dosperm-Primofilices series, and demands for them a place among 

 the Pteropsida. 



My object in the very slight and rough sketch of a vast field, 

 which I have ventured to lay before you, has been to bring home 

 to the minds of the Fellows, especially such as are not themselves 

 morphological botanists, the profound interest and importance of 

 the fundamental problems of Descent which are now under in- 

 vestigation and even appear ripe for solution. It is the great 

 merit of modern Palccobotauy that it has put new life into the 

 study of our phylogenetic questions. It has done so by forcing 

 us into contact with realities, with the ancient plants themselves,, 

 which were the actual predecessors (though by no means always 

 the ancestors) of our living Flora. I believe it to be true, in 



