ON TEE RELATION OF FOSSIL BOTANY 

 TO THEORIES OF EVOLUTION. By W. P. JAMES, 

 Esq., F.L.S. 



1. TTTHEREVER the word Evolution comes in, it is well to 

 V V begin with stating in what sense it is used. For 

 the present purpose it will be limited to its proper biological 

 meaning, for it is only in the province of life that it can be 

 considered as anything more than a hazy synonym for develop- 

 ment. What process it can possibly express in the inorganic 

 world I am at a loss to conceive. But as understood by 

 Zoologists and Botanists it is perfectly intelligible ; to them 

 it is equivalent to the Theory of Descent, that is, to the 

 hypothesis that the forms of animal and vegetable life which 

 surround us have descended by modification from their pre- 

 decessors in time. In itself this is a most interesting and 

 fascinating question, and no thoughtful student of nature can 



