408 



VEGETATION OF THE CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD 



venule, they occur only where two venules meet : were the whole frond 

 so furnished it would represent Meniscium cuspidatum* 



Thus we have four plants, wholly indistinguishable except by their 



Fig. 5. 



* To illustrate still further the confusion which the absence of fructification might 

 entail, it may be mentioned that three of these ferns are natives of Java, and would, if 

 petrified without the fructification being displayed, be unsuspectingly referred to one 

 species ; the fourth, a native of Jamaica, would, if similarly fossilized, be adduced as an 

 instance of the similarity in the vegetable productions of the Old and New World at the 

 epoch when they both flourished ! Yet four more really and truly distinct plants cannot 

 well be. 



