90 LINKS WITH THE PAST [ch. 



miles from Brussels sufficiently well preserved to 

 reveal the details of internal organisation. Some 

 of these fossils were found to possess structural 

 features identical Avith those of the Malayan species 

 of Matonia. A full account of the fossil representa- 

 tives of the Matonia family would be out of place in 

 a general essay on Links with the Past, but brief 

 reference may be made to some of the data which 

 throw light on the geological history of the family. 

 In strata classed by geologists as Rhaetic, a phase 

 of earth-history between the Triassic and Jurassic 

 eras (see p. 42), species of Laccopteris and allied forms 

 have been described from several otlier countries ; 

 from Jurassic and Wealden strata examples of both 

 Laccopteris and Matonia have been found in Germany, 

 Portugal, Belgium, Austria, and elsewhere. From 

 rocks of Cretaceous age, higher in the series than 

 the Wealden strata, Avell preserved impressions of 

 a Matonidium have been discovered in JMoravia. 

 The Matonineae were widely distributed in Europe 

 during the Rhaetic and Jurassic periods, but, so far 

 as we know, the family did not survive in the northern 

 hemisphere beyond the limits of the Cretaceous 

 period. It is noteworthy that, in spite of the 

 preservation of the remains of Jurassic and Cre- 

 taceous floras in many extra-European regions, 

 notably in India, South Africa, Australia, China, and 

 Tonkin, no specimens have been found which can 



