PREFACE. IX 



Zoology, and Botany. I trust that the Fellowship will 

 continue to stimulate our eminent students in future years. 



Having been a student of Natural Science along with 

 Dr. Falconer, I feel a peculiar interest in doing what I can 

 to promote the study of a subject to which he so successfully 

 devoted his energies. In my endeavour to do so I have 

 been encouraged by my friend and fonner pupil, Mr. William 

 Carruthers, at the head of the Botanical Department of the 

 British Museum, and a former student in Edinburgh under 

 the late Professor Fleming. He has done much to advance 

 our knowledge of Fossil Botany, and to him I am indebted 

 for two of the plates and some of the woodcuts which illus- 

 trate this publication. He has given me most efficient 

 assistance, and I have to return my best thanks for his 

 kind aid. I am also indebted to my colleague, Professor 

 Geikie, for his valued assistance. 



The neighbourhood of Edinburgh is rich in Fossils of 

 the Carboniferous epoch, and much yet remains to be done 

 to illustrate its Palaeontology. Such labourers as Geikie 

 and Peach may be expected to give great assistance in the 

 furtherance of our knowledge of Scottish Geology, so as to 

 form a school which shall revive the reputation enjoyed by 

 Edinburgh in the days of Hutton and Jameson. If I can 

 be useful in encouraging students to take up the study of 

 Palteontological Botany, and to prosecute it with vigour, I 

 shall feel that this introductory treatise has not been issued 

 in vain. As one of the few surviving relations of Dr. James 

 Hutton, I am glad to be able to show an interest in a science 

 which may aid in elucidating the " Theory of the Earth." 



In writing this work I have taken for granted that the 

 reader is acquainted with the Elements of Botany, and knows 



