98 M. De CandoUe o« Fossil Vegetables. 



varieties of the cryptogameae, such as mosses, mushrooms, &c., in 

 the coal formation, is not to be regarded as an objection ; for, 

 considering the extreme smallness of the plants, they, more than 

 others, must have escaped observation, and besides, they must 

 also, more than others, have been destroyed in the revolutions 

 of the globe. The entire absence, or the small proportion of the 

 herbaceous monocotyledons, in comparison of palms, banana- 

 trees, he, in the more ancient formations, is in part explained 

 by the same causes, and also by the nature of the localities : 

 coal-mines, those at least which are worth working, are petri- 

 fied forests, and in our present forests, there are but few grasses, 

 rushes, and analogous plants. If they existed at these periods, 

 it is only in very thin seams of the coal series that they are 

 likely to be found. And even admitting with Mr Lindley, 

 that the stigmaria and the sigillaria are dicotyledons, still a predo- 

 minance of fetheogameae in the first period continues, — it is only 

 not quite to the extent which M. Brongniart supposed. 



If we were disposed to argue upon details, it might be main- 

 tained, that the first dicotyledons which appear, chiefly belong 

 to a class which has a very doubtful form, (cycadete, ferns, and 

 certain anomalous genera), which assuredly are not perfect dico- 

 tyledons. But in questions so extended as this, and when we 

 are in possession of so few facts, and when it is moreover recog- 

 nised that the higher classes of families cannot regularly be 

 formed into a scale or linear series, as at one time was attempt- 

 ed, it is better to confine ourselves to a general comparison of 

 the proportions of the great divisions of the vegetable kingdom, 

 during certain periods which are widely separated from each 

 other. 



None deny that the phanerogameae are more completely or- 

 ganised, and more perfect in the eyes of the naturalist, than the 

 cryptogame£ie. Some transitions of forms, indeed, some groups 

 of the phanerogamea?, may only be equal, or even may be infe- 

 rior to certain groups of the cryptogameae, but this will not alter 

 the general truth. Besides, if we compare these two great divi- 

 sions of the vegetable kingdom, it must be recognised, that du- 

 ring the four geological periods admitted by M. Brongniart, the 

 proportion of the phanerogameae has always been increasing. 



This law of gradual development would hence appear to exist 



