80 



M. Brongniart on the different Floras which 



time, as far as pos^ble, repetitions resulting from the repetition 

 of different organs probably belonging to the same plants, such 

 as the leaves, petioles and stems of the Ferns, &c., we arrive at 

 the following figures for the different families : — 



Amphigenous Cryptogamia 6 



Algae 4 



Fungi 2 



Acrogenous Cryptogamia 346 



Filices 250 



Lycopodiacese 83 



Equisetaceae 13 



352 



Gymnospermous Dicotyledons. . 135 



Asterophyllites 44 



Sigillariese 60 



Nceggerathiese 12 



Cycadese ? 3 



Coniferae 16 



Angiospermous Dicotyledons ... 

 Monocotyledons (very doubtful) 13 



352 + 148 = 500 



148 



The first fact which strikes us in this table, is the small 

 number of the plants which constituted this flora of the ancient 

 world. It is true that this reckoning of the fossil vegetables of 

 the carboniferous period includes scarcely any but the species of 

 the coal formations of Europe ; but nevertheless those of North 

 America have now furnished a considerable contingent, and the 

 observations already made suffice to prove that most of the spe- 

 cies are identical with those of Europe. 



Thus, while this enumeration only comprehends 500 species, 

 the existing flora of Europe is composed of more than 6000 Pha- 

 nerogamia ; that of Germany, or rather of Central Europe, alone, 

 more than 5000 ; and by including the Cryptogamia these num- 

 bers would rise to at least 11,000, and to 9000 for the flora of 

 Central Europe alone. 



The flora of the carboniferous period therefore comprises at 

 most a twentieth of the number of plants now growing on the 

 surface of the soil of Europe, and yet this number of species cor- 

 I'esponds to the whole of a long period, during which various 

 species were successors to others ; so that it may be admitted, 

 with much probability, that never more than a hundred species 

 existed contemporaneously. We see how great was the poverty, 

 and especially the uniformity of this vegetation, above all in 

 relation to the number of species, compared to the abundance 

 and variety of the forms of the existing period. 



The complete absence of ordinary or Angiospermous Dicoty- 

 ledons, and that almost as complete of the Monocotyledons, ex- 

 plains, moreover, that reduction of the ancient flora ; for at the 

 present time these two divisions of the vegetable kingdom form 

 at least four-fifths of the total number of known existing species. 

 But the families also, so few in number, existing at that epoch, 

 contain absolutely many more species than they present now on 

 the soil of Europe. Thus the Ferns of the carboniferous period 



