EXAMINATION OF STRUCTURE OF FOSSIL PLANTS. 19 



same plant is one of the most important problems in Palaso- 

 phytology, and the neglect of it has led to many mistakes. 

 In some instances the data have been sufficient to enable 

 botanists to refer a fossil plant to a genus of the present 

 day, so that we have fossil species of the genera Ulmus, 

 Alnus, Pinus, etc. Sometimes the plant is shown to be allied 

 to a living genus, but differing in some essential point, or 

 wanting something to complete the identity, and it is then 

 marked by the addition of the term ites, as Pinites, Thuites, 

 Zamites, etc. 



Before drawing conclusions as to the climate or physical 

 condition of the globe at different geological epochs, the 

 botanist must be well informed as to the vegetation of 

 different countries, as to the soils and localities in which 

 certain plants grow, whether on land or in the sea, or in 

 lakes, in diy or marshy ground, in valleys or on mountains, 

 or in estuaries, in hot, temperate, or cold regions. Great 

 caution must be employed also in predicating from one species 

 the conditions of another, inasmuch as different species of 

 the same genus frequently exist in very different habitats, 

 and under almost opposite conditions of moisture and tem- 

 perature. It is only by a careful consideration of all these 

 particulars that any probable inferences can be drawn as to 

 the condition of the globe. Considering the physiognomy of 

 vegetation at the present day, we find remarkable associations 

 of forms. The Palms, although generally characteristic of very 

 warm countries, are by no mearis confined to them ; Cha- 

 mgerops humilis extending to Europe as far as lat. 43° to 44° 

 N., and C. palmetto in North America to lat. 34° to 36° N., 

 while C. Fortunei, from the north of China, is perfectly hardy 

 in the south of England. Major Madden mentions the 

 association of Palms and Bamboos with Conifers at consider- 

 able elevations on the Himalayas. (Edin. Bot. Soc. Trans, 

 iv., p. 185.) Epiphytic Orchids, which usually characterise 



