34 SIR J. W. DAWSON ON FOSSIL PLANTS OF THE LARAMIE, ETC. 
A short explanation may be necessary as to nomenclature. In this I have followed 
the methods heretofore used by others. I have, however, done so under protest and with 
certain qualifications as stated in my last paper, to the effect that generic names applied 
to fragments of plants must be merely tentative and provisional, and that they are liable 
to large corrections when more perfect specimens shall be procured. 
In this matter I sympathise very strongly with Dr. Nathorst in his objection to the 
use of modern generic names for mere leayes, and would be quite content to adopt some 
non-committal termination, as that of -phyllum, suggested by him. I feel, however, that 
almost as much is taken for granted if a plant is called Corylophyllum, as if called Corylus. 
In either case a judgment is expressed as to its affinities, which if wrong under the one 
term is wrong under the other, and after so much has been done by so many eminent 
botanists, it seems inexpedient to change the whole nomenclature for so small and ques- 
tionable an advantage. I wish it, however, to be distinctly understood that the leaves 
described in this paper are for the most part referred to certain genera on evidence 
necessarily imperfect, and their names are, therefore, subject to correction as new facts 
may be obtained. 
In the work which I have done on Paleozoic fossil botany, I have laboured by much 
digging to get together all the parts of the plants described, though, after doing this, I have 
often had the mortification to find that botanists accustomed only to hand specimens of 
fossil plants have regarded my statements with suspicion, as if relating to merely imaginary 
restorations. In the case of the deciduous trees of the later formations, it is less easy to 
obtain evidence of this kind, and in the exploration of our Western territories the difficulty 
of transporting bulky specimens has been too great to allow as much to be done as in the 
Devonian and Carboniferous districts of the Hast. 
I may add that, since the publication of my first memoir, Dr. G. M. Dawson has made 
important collections in the Cretaceous coal formation of Vancouver Island. These, while 
more fully illustrating previously described material, will add a number of new species 
which await study and illustration. 
By the kind permission of Dr. Selwyn, the drawings for this and for the previous 
paper have been executed by Mr. L. M. Lambe, artist to the Geological Survey. 
Norr.—Owing to the absence of the author when the foregoing sheets were passing through the press, a few 
trifling errors have occurred which are now corrected. 
Page 22, after “ THusa intERRUPTA,” read ‘ (PI. I. Figs. 3 and 4.)” 
“27, insert “ (PI. I. Fig. 8.) ” after “ Casranna, Sp.,” instead of after “ Quercus, Sp.” 
“30, under “S. LixxætrorMe,” read “the veins are tortuous ” for “the leaves are tortuous.” 
In Plate IT, Figs. 15 and 18 are in part restorations, in consequence of the best specimens having been mislaid. 
