1858.] FOSSIL BOTANY. 369 



the floral leaves. The leaves were remotely and irregularly den- 

 ticulate ; the sepals linear-lanceolate ; the styles formed an entire 

 club. The floral buds were erect ; although the top of the plant 

 was inclined^ through a want of sufficient strength to support its 

 own weight. 



It will be seen from these remarks that there remains much 

 for Mr. Baker to do before he has quite cleared away the diffi- 

 culties attending these closely allied plants, which, if hybrids, 

 probably difffer solely on account of one being produced by the 

 action of the pollen of E. imlustre, and the other of that of E. 

 obscurum. Let me recommend them earnestly to Mr. Baker's 

 study, bearing this point in view. 



If it should be shown that there is indeed a new species, then 

 probably the orthography of the name might well be slightly 

 altered so as to render it more correct. I Avould call it E. lingu- 

 latum, from the outline of the leaves being rather that of a tongue 

 than of a strap. But even then it would not be altogether cor-^ ^/u^JJ^%^ 

 rect, for the term Ungulate is always applied to a thick or fleshy ■• '• '^ .'^ 

 body, such as the leaf of a Mesembryanthemum, and cannot rightly 

 be used for the thin leaf of an Epilobium. 



FOSSIL BOTANY. 



The following is an extract from Hugh Miller's ' Testimony of 

 the Rocks,' Lecture First : — 



"Ere passing to the luxuriant Carboniferous Mora, I shall make 

 but one other remark. The existing plants whence we derive 

 our analogies in dealing with the vegetation of this early period, 

 contribute but little, if at all, to the support of animal life. The 

 Ferns and their allies remain untouched by the grazing animals. 

 Our native Club Mosses, though once used in medicine, are posi- 

 tively deleterious; the Horsetails, though harmless, so abound 

 in silex, which wraps them round with a cuticle of stone, that 

 they are rarely cropped by cattle; whilst the thickets of Fern 

 which cover our hillsides, and seem so temptingly rich and 

 green in their season, scarce support the existence of a single 

 creature, and remain untouched in stem and leaf from their first 

 appearance in spring until they droop and wither under the frosts 

 of early winter. Even the insects that infest the herbaria of the 



N. S. VOL. II. 3 B 



