PREFACE. 



The subject of Fossil Botany or Palfeopliytology has formed 

 a part of the Course of Botany in the University of Edinburgh 

 for the last twenty-five years, and the amount of time devoted 

 to the exposition of it has increased. The recent foundation 

 of a Chair of Geology and of a Falconer Pal^eontological 

 Fellovrship in the University seems to require from the 

 Professors of Zoology and Botany special attention to 

 the bearings of their departments of science on the stmcture 

 of the animals and plants of former epochs of the Earth's 

 history. No one can be competent to give a correct decision 

 in regard to Fossils, unless he has studied thoroughly the 

 present Fauna and Flora of the globe. To give a well- 

 founded opinion in regard to extinct beings, it is essential 

 that the observer should be conversant with the conforma- 

 tion and development of the living ones now on the earth ; 

 with their habits, modes of existence and reproduction, the 

 microscopic structure of their tissues, their distribution, and 

 their relation to soil, the atmosphere, temperature, and 

 climate. 



There can be no doubt that to become a good Fossil 

 Geologist a student must begin with living animals and 

 plants. The study of Geology must be shared by the 



