M. De CandoUe on Fossil Vegetables. &o 



Instance, it would be desirable to add to the specific name the 

 e^khetjbssil, or some equivalent sign. 



When the resemblance to an existing genus is made out, and 

 yet, on account of the absence of the organs of fructification, it 

 is not ascertained if the fossil specimen belongs really to the 

 same genus or to a neighbouring one, the termination ites is 

 added to the name of the living genus. Thus Zamites, is a 

 fossil genus alhed to Zamia, Lycopodites to Lycopodiuni, &c- 



U. The Classification (>f Fossil Vegetables, — Vegetable fossils 

 are classed, either according to the epoch of their existence, or 

 their botanic characters. 



The former of these methods is, without doubt, the most im- 

 portant. The vegetables, which are found in the same strata, 

 must needs have lived under the same conditions, and must ex- 

 hibit a certain i-esemblancc, similar to that found in the existing 

 races. It is expedient, therefore, to compare these among them- 

 selves, previous to examining them with vegetables of a different 

 epoch. As it regards fossils, therefore, botanical classifications 

 ought to be subordinated to geological arrangements. 



As to the distinction of strata, the superposition of which, at 

 successive eras, has gradually formed the crust of the globe, it 

 is known that geologists are not as yet agreed as to the best 

 method of classifying them. Characters are often deduced from 

 the nature of the fossils ; but in the study of the distribution 

 of the fossil bodies themselves, it is necessary, on the contrary, 

 to avail ourselves of the mineralogical distinctions alone. 



M. Brongniart* has proposed the classification of strata into 

 Jbrmaltons and terrains. 



A formation is composed of many strata, which present com- 

 mon characters, appearing to indicate a common origin and an 

 analogous mode of formation. This is seen in the coal measures, 

 and in the beds of chalk, &c. All the formations which have 

 followed the primitive series, in which no traces of organized 

 beings have been found, may be arranged in four classes, viz. 

 1st, the transition formations; 2dly, those of the inferior Ae- 

 posit ; 3dly, of the middle; and 4thly, those of the superior 

 deposits. 



• Ann. des Sc. Natur. Nov. 1U2S, p. 5 ; and Prod, des Veg. Fos5. 182«. 



