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dreamt of were it not for the study of fossil remains. I refer to 

 the Equisetales and Lycopodiales. While not holding a brief for 

 the study of paleobotany, the prediction is eminently true that in 

 a few years' time it will be as much of an absurdity to pretend to 

 discuss the broader questions of morphology, systematic botany, 

 or geographical distribution without taking paleobotany into 

 account as it is now for a zoologist to discuss the morphology, 

 classification, or geographical distribution of mammals without an 

 intimate acquaintance with Tertiary vertebrate paleontology. 



The limits and relative development of the various classes in 

 the Paleozoic were so different from what we are familiar with in 

 modern floras and the time involved was so enormous, that it is 

 difficult properly to orient oneself; we forget that Paleozoic 

 time was longer than all time since its close, and that it undoubt- 

 edly afforded opportunity for the evolution of structures and 

 habits far beyond what we have been accustomed to imagine. 



In the study of Paleozoic floras, discovery has trod upon the 

 heels of discovery during the past few years so that the present 

 summary of a scattered and special literature is not only timely, 

 but coming as it does from the pen of one who is such a master 

 workman in the ranks of investigators in this field, it possesses 

 an added value and authority. After a brief introduction the 

 various groups are taken up in a systematic order, commencing 

 with the algae and ending with the Gymnospermae, the treat- 

 ment being mainly morphological and evolutionary. Space for- 

 bids an extended notice. The work itself is succinctly condensed 

 and should be on the work-table of every botanist. A few points 

 may be merely enumerated. 



The probable abundance of Carboniferous fungi and the total 

 absence of authentic Bryophyta is noted, the latter fact somewhat 

 puzzling to those who assign so great a theoretical importance to 

 this sub-kingdom. Interest centers in the vascular plants and it 

 is pointed out that their division into Pteridophyta and Sperma- 

 tophyta ceases to be a natural one with the discovery of the Pteri- 

 dospermatophyta. Thus these terms are likely to follow the 

 Cryptogamia and Phanerogamia into the limbo of disuse before 

 many years. Seed-like organs in two very different genera of 



