Ill] THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD 55 



of granite in Charnwood forest we have a glimpse of 

 a Triassic landscape. The salt-bearing strata of this 

 period in Cheshire and Worcestershire suggest con- 

 ditions paralleled at the present day in the Caspian 

 and Dead-Sea regions. The vegetation of Britain, and 

 indeed of the Avorld as a whole, seems to have under- 

 gone but little change during the enormous lapse of 

 time represented by the sediments comprised between 

 the Wealden and Triassic periods. The Lower Triassic 

 flora affords evidence of a change in the facies of the 

 vegetation and prepares us for the still greater dif- 

 ferences revealed by a study of the Permian and 

 Carboniferous floras. To the student of evolution 

 these Palaeozoic floras are of special interest on 

 account of the facts they have contributed in regard 

 to the descent and inter-relationship of different 

 branches of the vegetable kingdom. 



It is by a patient study of the waifs and strays 

 of the vegetation of successive phases of the world's 

 history preserved in sedimentary strata, that it has 

 been possible to follow the history of many existing 

 plants and to establish links between the present 

 and the past. 



