232 BRYOPHYTA. [CH. 



The plant reproduced in fig. 48 A {Tristichia), one of tlie 

 Podostemaceae, might easily be mistaken for a foliose Liverwort 

 if found as a fragmentary fossil. Such species of Selaginella 

 as S. Oregana Eat. and 8. rupestris Spring (fig. 48 C) have a 

 distinctly moss-like habit and do not present a very obvious 

 resemblance to the more typical and better known Selaginellas. 

 The twig of a Podocarpus (P. cupressinay in fig. 48 B affords 

 an instance of a conifer which simulates to some extent certain 

 of the larger-leaved Liverworts ; it bears a resemblance also to 

 some fossil fragments referred to Selaginellites or Lycopodites. 

 A small fossil specimen figured by Nathorst*^ from Japan as 

 possibly a Lycopodites may be compared with a coniferous twig, 

 and with some of the larger Liverworts, e.g. species of Plagiochila^. 

 Podocarpus cupressina is, however, chiefly instructive as an 

 example of the striking differences which are met with among 

 species of the same genus ; it differs considerably from the 

 ordinary species of Podocarpus, and might well be identified 

 as a member of some other group than that of the Coniferae. 



We have no records of Palaeozoic Hepaticae. The fossils 

 which Zeiller has figured in his Flore de Brive as Schizopteris 

 dichotoma Gtimb.^ and S. trichomanoides Gopp. bear a resem- 

 blance to some forms of hepatics, but there is no satisfactory 

 evidence for removing them from the position assigned to them 

 by the French writer. In Mesozoic rocks a few specimens are 

 known which bear a close resemblance as regards the form of the 

 thalloid body to recent Liverworts, but the identification of such 

 fossils cannot be absolutely trusted. Two French authors, 

 MM. Fliche and Bleicher^, have described a plant from Lower 

 Oolite rocks near Nancy as a species of Marchantia, M. oolithius, 

 but they point out the close agreement of such forked laminar 

 structures to algae and lichens. From Tertiary and Post- 

 Tertiary beds a certain number of fossil species have been 

 recorded, but they possess no special botanical interest. 



1 Bennett and Brown (38) p. 35. 



2 Nathorst (90) PL ii. fig. 3. 



3 Lindenberg (39) PI. ix. fig. 1. 



4 Zeiller (922) pi, j, ggg^ 7 ^nd 8. 



5 Fliche and Bleicher (81). 



