102 EVOLUIYON ۳ 
(Fig. 143), Bananas, Orchids, Lily, and the Grasses. Among 
the Dicotyledons are found the Oaks, Elms, the fruit-trees, 
and the most beautiful flowers. The flower of the different 
kinds of Dicotyledons offers an interesting ascending series. 
The flower of the Spurge, or Euphorbia, consists of only a 
stamen or a pistil, known as Achlamydeous, the flower 
being called accordingly staminate or pistillate. A slight 
progress is seen in the flower of the Goose-foot, Fig, Mul- 
berry, Elm, etc., in which, however, the corolla is still 
undistinguishable from the calyx. Such flowers are called, 
therefore, Apetale: the flowers of the Monocotyledons are 
of this kind. In the Bean, Clover, Violet, Geranium, etc., 
the corolla and calyx are distinct, but the petals forming 
the corolla are still more or less separated, hence they 
are known as Diapetale; in the Gentian, Elder, Ash, 
Morning-glory, etc., the petals have united; they are known, 
therefore as Gamopetale. How the different orders of the 
Phanerogamia are related to each other is the last ques- 
tion which yet remains unanswered. The structure and 
reproductive apparatus of the Cycadz and Conifere would 
lead us to suppose that they appeared on the earth before 
the Monocotyledons or Dicotyledons. This view is con- 
firmed by geological evidence, since the fossil Cycadz and 
Conifere are found in great profusion at a much earlier 
period than that in which the Monocotyledons or Dicoty- 
ledons first appeared. The Cycade and Conifere are 
probably the posterity of a common ancestor nearly allied 
to the Lycopodiacee. Among the Coniferz there is an 
order, the Gnetacez, or the jointed Firs, whose structure 
links them on to the Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons. 
Some extinct Conifer, allied to the jointed Fir, was,the 
probable common progenitor of these two orders, of which 
the Dicotyledons are the most complex, both as regards 
the structure of the stem and flower. 
Süch à p 
