THE PROBLEM 55 



agree with the Dicotyledons and not with the 

 Monocotyledons. It was on these grounds that 

 the older botanists used to include the Gymno- 

 sperms under Dicotyledons, an arrangement 

 which may still be met with in Floras and sys- 

 tematic works. This cannot, of course, be main- 

 tained now; the Gymnosperms now living are 

 totally distinct from all Angiosperms in the whole 

 organisation and development of the reproduc- 

 tive organs; it is, however, important to remem- 

 ber that they really have much more in common 

 with Dicotyledons than with Monocotyledons. 



What was the origin of the Angiosperms, the 

 great sub-Kingdom which now dominates the 

 vegetation of the world? This is the first ques- 

 tion which must occur to our minds in approach- 

 ing the subject of the Evolution of Plants. If an 

 answer is to be found, we must seek it in the 

 palseontological record, for an attempt to solve 

 the problem by the mere comparison of living 

 forms would only involve us in endless contro- 

 versies and hypotheses; we will, therefore, in the 

 next chapter, inquire what was the nature of the 

 vegetation of the World in the age immediately 

 preceding the first recorded appearance of the 

 Angiosperms, and see whether among the plants 

 which have come down to us from that period 

 there were any which show signs of kinship with 

 the Flowering Plants that succeeded them. 



