20 PnOCEEDIXGS OF THE 



on (p. 07) that tlie organs of fructification vary very mucli ; 

 somelinies one recognises easily enough organs which characterise 

 two different sexes, sometimes only a single one has heen, with 

 any probahility, discovered. He places the Characea?, Marsi- 

 leacea\ Ecpiisetacea^, and some Lycopodiacea; in the former 

 category : the IVrns and most Lycopodiacea? in the latter. 



The inclusion of Characea? in Vascular Cryptogams seems odd 

 to a modern botanist ; but we are scarcely in a position to scoff, 

 for the true systematic relations of this family have never yet been 

 made clear. 



A striking merit of Brongniart's classification is the separation 

 of the Gymnosperms in a class of their own, a point in which he 

 was far in advance of most botanists of his own day and even of 

 a much later time. He shows that the Gymnosperms are distinct 

 from other Phanerogams both in their reproductive organs (the 

 seeds, destitute of a capsule, receiving directly the action of the 

 fecundating substance), and in the organisation of their stems, very 

 different in many respects fi'om that of true Dicotyledons (p. 22). 



In the detailed part of the 'llistoire,' passing over the Fucoids 

 and the scanty and doubtful Mosses, the Equisetacea? are dealt 

 with first of the vascular plants. The anatomy of recent forms is 

 fully treated. It is curious to see what was then thought about 

 their sexual reproduction, lledwig had suggested that the spore 

 was an ovary with a short style, while the elaters represented 

 four anthers attached to the style by their filaments. Brongniart 

 improves on this by supposing the spore to be an ovule, and the 

 elaters four grains of pollen adhering to it. 



As regards the Calamites, he says that up to that time every- 

 thing had confirmed his idea of a relation between them and 

 Equisehim. So far, however, he knew nothing either of the 

 fructification or the anatomy of the fossil forms. The discovery 

 of the latter, at a later date, long misled him and his school, and 

 formed one of the great subjects of controversy with English and 

 German investigators. 



The rest of the first volume is devoted to the Ferns or the 

 plants which he then classed as such, constituting by themselves, 

 as he says, the greater part of the Flora of the ancient rocks. 



As regards the reproduction of recent Ferns, Brongniart inclines 

 to Hedwig's view that the stalked vesicles (glandular hairs) on the 

 young fronds represent the male organs. At any rate, he finds 

 " their analogy with the pollen-sacs of Mosses complete " (p. 141). 

 His classification of Ferns is quite a natural one, only differing 

 from modern systems in including the Tree-ferns (Cyatheacea?) 

 under Polypodiacea3, and making the Parkeriaceae {Ceraiopteris) a 

 distinct group, as was still done much later. 



For the purposes of fossil botany he employs his well-known 

 artificial classih'cation based on the venation and form of the frond, 

 a classification which is still indispensable for fossil taxonomic 

 work. 



The most curious |X)int is that Brongniart at that time included 



