THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD 761 



oleander. Among the gymnosperms, there was a notable devel- 

 opment of the sequoias, which now include the giant trees of Cali- 

 fornia. The modern Cycas was present, and the ginkgo had some 

 prominence, though never a leading type. Worthy of special note 

 was the presence of genera in Europe and the United States which 

 are now confined to the southern hemisphere, as Podocarpus, the 

 leading pine of the southern hemisphere. Some of these remained 

 in the northern regions till the early Cenozoic. 



Previous to the later stages of this period, monocotyledons 

 played but an insignificant part in the floral record, but they now 

 began to assume a position of importance. Palms were plentiful, 

 even in northerly latitudes, before the close of the period, and some 

 of them were closely allied to existing palms. Of even more inter- 

 est, because of their relations to the evolution of grazing animals, 

 was the appearance of grasses, which do not, however, appear to 

 have attained prominence until later. 



It is worthy of remark that the introduction of dicotyledons, 

 the great bearers of fruits and nuts, and of monocotyledons, the 

 greatest grain and fodder producers, was the groundwork for a 

 profound evolution of herbivorous and frugiverous land animals, 

 and these in turn, for the development of the animals that prey 

 upon them. A zoological revolution, as extraordinary as the 

 botanical one, might naturally be anticipated; but it did not follow 

 immediately, so far as the record shows. The reptiles seem to have 

 roamed through the new forests as they had through the old, with- 

 out radical modification. The zoological transformation may have 

 been delayed because the appropriate animals had not then come 

 into contact with the new phases of plant life. With the opening 

 Tertiary, the anticipated revolution in the animal life of the land 

 made its appearance, and advanced with great rapidity. 



The new flora spread widely. Not only was the European flora 

 essentially the same as the American, but there was a close resem- 

 blance between the flora of mid-Greenland (70-72 Lat.) and that 

 of Maryland and Virginia, indicating climatic conditions of remark- 

 able uniformity. Not only this, but the flora was of a sub-tropical 

 type. 



