TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 477 
Alge.—Numerous objects supposed to belong to this family have been discovered 
in much older rocks than Carboniferous ones. The subject isa thorny one. That 
marine plants of some kind must have existed, simultaneously with the molluscous 
and other plant-eating animals of palzozoic times, is obviously indisputable: But 
what those plants were is another question. ‘The widest differences of opinion 
exist in reference to many of them. A considerable number of those recognised 
by Schimper, Saporta, and other palobotanists, are declared by Nathorst to be 
merely inorganic tracks of marine animals; and in the case of many of these I 
have little doubt that the Swedish geologist is right. Others have been shown to 
be imperfectly preserved fragments of plants of much higher organisation than 
Algze; branches of Conifers even being included amongst them. I have as yet 
seen none of Carboniferous age that could he indisputably identified with the 
family of Algz, though there are many that look like, and may probably be, such. 
The microscope alone can settle this question, though even this instrument fails to 
secure unity of opinion in the case of Dawson’s Prototavites; and no other of the 
supposed seaweeds, hitherto discovered, have been sufficiently well preserved to bear 
the microscopic test; hence I think that their existence in Carboniferous rocks can 
only be regarded as an unproven probability. Mere superficial resemblances do 
not satisfy the severe demands of modern science, and probabilities are an in- 
sufficient foundation upon which to build evolutionary theories. 
Seeing what extremely delicate cell-structures ae preserved in the Carboniferous 
beds, it cannot appear other than strange that the few imperfect Fungoid relics, 
just referred to, constitute the only terrestrial cellular Cryptogams that have been 
discovered in the Carboniferous strata. The Darwinian doctrine would sugeest 
that these lower forms of plant-life ought to have abounded in that primeval age; 
and that they were capable of being preserved is proved by the numerous specimens 
met with in Tertiary deposits. Why we do not find such in the Paleozoic beds is 
still an unsolved problem. 
Vascular Cryptogams—The Vascular Cryptogams, next to be considered, burst 
upon us almost suddenly, and in rich profusion, during the Devonian age; they 
are silent equally in the Devonian and Carboniferous strata as to their ancestral 
descent. 
Feyns.—The older taxonomic literature of Paleeozoic Fern-life is, with few 
exceptions, of little scientific value. Hooker and others have uttered in vain wise 
protests against the system that has been pursued. Small fragments have had 
generic and specific names assigned to them, with supreme indifference to the 
study of morphological variability amongst living types. The undifferentiated 
tip of a terminal pinnule has had its special name, whilst the more developed 
structures forming the lower part of a frond have supplied two or three more 
species. Whilst the distinct forms of the sterile and fertile fronds may have fur- 
nished additional ones, a further cause of confusion is seen in the wide difference 
existing between a young, half-developed seedling and the same plant at an advanced 
stage of its growth. Anyone who has watched the growth of a young Polypo- 
dium awreum can appreciate this difference. Yet, in the early stages of palzonto- 
logical research, observers could scarcely have acted otherwise than as they did in 
assigning names to these fragments, if only for temporary working purposes. Our 
error lies in misunderstanding the true value of such names. At present the study 
of fossil ferns is affording some promise of a newer and healthier condition. We 
are slowly learning a little about the fructification of some species, and the internal 
organisation of others. Such facts, cautiously interpreted, are surer guides than 
mere external contours; unfortunately, such facts are, as yet, but few in number, 
and when we have them we are too often unable to identify our detached 
sporangia, stems, and petioles with the fronds of the plants to which they pri- 
marily belonged. 
That all the Carboniferous plants included in the genera Pecopteris, Neuropteris 
and Sphenopteris are ferns appears to be most probable; but what the true affini- 
ties of the objects included in these ill-defined genera may be is very doubtful. 
Here and there we obtain glimpses of a more definite kind. That the Devonian 
Paleopteris Hibernica is a Hymenophyllous form appears to be almost certain ; 
