40 



FLORA INDICA. 



in our 



tions on the assumption that all the individuals of a unisexual 

 plant proceeded from one originally created parent, and all of 

 a bisexual from a single pair. To discuss this subject would 



esume 



posed to it, as well as of those which support it, we must re- 

 fer our readers to Sir Charles LyelFs ' Principles of Geology/ 

 and to the Introductory Essay to the Flora of New Zealand. 



it tor our present p 

 unprejudiced careful 



in 



inculcated 



theory to eradicate, we have been independently led to this 

 conclusion, as being most consonant with our very consider- 

 able experience in the field and herbarium. 



causes 



we by no means limit them to existing ones. We have every 

 reason to believe that many living species of plants have sur- 

 vived the destruction of large continents, just as many animal* 



in 



witn 



complete revolutions in the relative positions of land and sea, 

 and consequently in the climate of the several parts of the 



globe . 



and 



greater or less degr 



dom j the amount of evidence depending solely on the adap- 

 tation of their dead parts to preservation in a recognizable 

 condition. Fossil plants are specifically never thus to be iden- 

 tified, and our argument is hence one founded on analogy onlv 

 but supported by many facts* in distribution, not less than b; 

 the enects of such operations as we now see in progress. 



Sir Charles Lyell was the first to appreciate this most important ele- 

 ment in geographical distribution (Principles of Geology, chap, xxxui.) ; and 

 Professor Edward Forbes first brought it to bear upon an existing Fauna » 

 Flora, mh: admirable Essay on the ' Distribution of the Plants and Animal 



danda' (in the 1st vol of Mem. Geolog. Surrey of F. K.). v 



