TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 845 



vigorou8 members of the Mesozoic vegetation. The appended table illustrates in 

 a concise form the former extension of the Matoninete and Dipteridinte :— 



Geoffi-apkical Distribution of t/te Matoninere and Uiptcridince. 



N. Tump. N. Sub-tropical> 



9 10 



Matonineoe and Dipteridinas 



Matonine^ 



Matunidium 



Laccopteris 



[Rhaetic -> Cretaceous] 

 Matonia 



2 species . . • • 



DlPTEHIDIN^ 



I>ictyophyllum 

 C'amptopteris, &c. . 

 [Rhaetic -> Wealden] 

 Dipteris 

 4 species . . . • 



Arctic 



11 12 13; 



MatoninesB and Dipteiidinse 



Matonineoe 



Matonidium . 



Laccopteris 



[Rhaetic -> Cretaceous] 

 Matonia 



2 species .... 



DlPTEHIDIN^ 



Divtynphylluni 

 Camptopteris, &c. . 

 [Rh«tic -> Wealden] 

 Dipteris 

 4 .«pecies 



Tropical 



14 



15 16 



Could we but question these survivors from the past, we should hear a tragic 

 story of hopeless struggle against stronger competitors, and learn the history of 

 their gradual migration from an ancient northern home to regions at the other 

 end of the world. 



e. Flowering Plants. 



Our retrospect of the march of plant-life has so far extended to the dawn of 

 the Cretaceous period, a chapter in geological history written in the rocks that 

 constitute the Wealden series of Britain exposed in the Sussex clifts and in the 

 Weald district of south-east England. According to the geologist's reckoning, 

 the Cretaceous period is of comparatively modern date; it occupies a position 

 near the summit of a long succession of ages representing an amount of time 

 beyond the power of imagination to conceive. On the other hand, to quote trom 

 Huxley's lecture on a piece of chalk, ' not one of the present great physical features 

 of the globe was in existence. ... Our great mountain-ranges, Pyrenees, Alps, 

 Himalayas, Andes, have all been upheaved since the chalk was deposited, and the 



