64 THE THEOKY OF EVOLUTION 



with the Dicotyledons of the present day. Precursors 

 of these first Dicotyledons belonging to older forma- 

 tions are entirely unknown to us/ l We have already 

 emphasized above the fact that the highest systematic 

 group appeared at the outset as a numerous one and 

 in genera and families which are still existent. With 

 regard to the relations of the Angiosperms to the Grymno- 

 sperms Reinke says : 3 ' No closer relations of any kind 

 can be traced between the oldest Angiosperms and the 

 Gymnosperms. Both chief sections of flowering plants 

 are as sharply separated in their fossil types as they 

 are as living plants/ 



(4) It should also be considered that as regards 

 the history of the Mosses and the oldest Thallophytes 

 we know practically nothing, despite that the con- 

 ditions of preservation for the associated mosses were 

 favourable, growing as they often did in damp and 

 humid habitats. 3 Hence it is seen that regarding the 

 historic (phyletic) development of the flora we can say 

 nothing with certainty. 



(5) The question whether within the limits of one 

 and the same type for instance the Lepidophyte class 

 the higher orders appear after the lower cannot be 

 determined in the absence of objective evidence. It 

 appears, however, to be very probable that the changes 



1 Reinke : Naturwiss. Vortrdge, Vol. I, p. 28. 



2 Reinke : Philosophic der Botanik, Leipzig, 1905, p. 135. 



3 Gothan : Entwicldung der Pflanzenwelt, p. 96. Even in the Carboni- 

 ferous formations mosses cannot be clearly made out. ' The question of 

 fossil mosses, owing to these circumstances, has been a source of much 

 brain-racking among the palaeontologists.' 



