Preface 



The number and the importance of the discoveries which have 

 been made in the course of the last five or six years in the realm 

 of Fossil Botany have largely altered the aspect of the subject and 

 greatly widened its horizon. Until comparatively recent times the 

 rather narrow outlook and the technical difficulties of the study 

 made it one which could only be appreciated by specialists. This 

 has been gradually changed, owing to the detailed anatomical work 

 which it was found possible to do on the carboniferous plants, and 

 which proved to be of great botanical importance. About ten 

 years ago textbooks in English were written, and the subject was 

 included in the work of the honours students of Botany at the 

 Universities. To-day the important bearing of the results of this 

 branch of Science on several others, as well as its intrinsic value, 

 is so much greater, that anyone who is at all acquainted with 

 general science, and more particularly with Botany and Geology, 

 must find much to interest him in it. 



There is no book in the English language which places this 

 really attractive subject before the non- specialist, and to do so 

 is the aim of the present volume. The two excellent English 

 books which we possess, viz. Seward's Fossil Plants (of which 

 the first volume only has appeared, and that ten years ago) and 

 Scott's Studies in Fossil Botany, are ideal for advanced University 

 students. But they are written for students who are supposed to 

 have a previous knowledge of technical botany, and prove very 

 hard or impossible reading for those who are merely acquainted 

 with Science in a general way, or for less advanced students. 



The inclusion of fossil types in the South Kensington syllabus 

 for Botany indicates the increasing importance attached to palaeo- 

 botany, and as vital facts about several of those types are not to 

 be found in a simply written book, the students preparing for the 

 examination must find some difficulty in getting their information. 

 Furthermore, Scott's book, the only up-to-date one, does not give 

 a complete survey of the subject, but just selects the more impor- 

 tant families to describe in detail. 



Hence the present book was attempted for the double purpose 

 of presenting the most interesting discoveries and general con- 



