164 PAST AND PRESENT 
now in a wild state. The genus Ginkgo runs back 
to the beginning of the Mesozoic Period, and its 
near relatives go back much farther still to the 
Devonian; the group to which it belongs, Ginkgoacee 
(probably descended from the Cordaite@), attains its 
maximum in the Jurassic, the “Age of Reptiles,” and 
the existing species or its near relatives saw the Earth 
teeming with fantastic Saurians, including huge 
brutes, longer than the greatest whale, which browsed 
on trees or devoured creatures scarcely less terrible 
than themselves, while others of different form occu- 
pied the sea, and others again of nightmare appear- 
ance dashed bat-like through the air. .This solitary 
representative of a great and ancient race is of quite 
peculiar interest in that it is the highest plant in which 
is preserved the primitive feature of fertilization by 
the medium of water, the male cell being endowed 
with the power of motion, and reaching the egg-cell 
by means of swimming. 
Throughout the Tertiary or Cainozoic Period the 
dominance of the Angiosperms became more pro- 
nounced, and already in the Eocene a flora flourished 
much resembling in a general way that which now 
occupies the Earth. Long periods succeeded the 
Eocene, of which the record is poor so far as plant 
remains are concerned, at least as regards these coun- 
tries, but no further great botanical revolutions took 
place. Through the Miocene Period, with its luxuriant 
evergreen, subtropical vegetation, we are led to the 
Pliocene. During this period the climate once again 
cooled down, and towards the end of it, under condi- 
tions very like those prevailing in England at present, 
many of our familiar species of wild flowers and trees 
