ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. IxXl 



conclusions respecting the age and affinities of formations drawn from 

 the fragments of an ancient flora should always be put forth as pro- 

 blematical and provisional. Yet in geological memoirs we too fre- 

 quently find this caution lost sight of, or apparently unknown to their 

 authors, who svim up the columns of animal and vegetable species 

 alike, and add the numbers together, as if by diluting certainties with 

 uncertainties we could come nearer a definite conclusion. Every 

 botanist knows how difficult is the attempt to determine species of 

 living plants from imperfect fragments, how slight is the clue in 

 many cases afforded by a leaf, and how hopeless the task when he 

 has before him only the fragment of a stem. Yet such are the ma- 

 terials from which in nine cases out of ten the describer of fossil plants 

 constructs his species. Not content with indicating the possible or 

 probable affinities of the morsel before him, he confers upon it the 

 dignity of a generic and specific name, and enrols it in the catalogue 

 of new types. When the specimen presents characters so positively 

 different from any known form whatsoever, this proceeding may be 

 excused ; but such is not the excuse in the majority of instances. 

 The nearer we approach our own epoch, the more difficult becomes 

 the task, and the more are extreme care and forbearance demanded. 

 With the greatest respect for the distinguished men who have of late 

 contributed so much towards our acquaintance with the floras of the 

 Tertiaries, I cannot but think that the positive nomenclature they 

 have introduced into our hsts is quite as likely to retard as to advance 

 geology. Would that the v/arnings so often and admirably pronounced 

 within our walls by my most able friends and fellow-members, Br. 

 Hooker and Mr. Charles Bunbury, were heard by some of the palseo- 

 phytologists of Germany ! 



Among the most recent researches on this subject are the labours 

 of Goppert on the flora preserved in amber. In this ancient resin 

 portions of plants, even the flowers, are occasionally preserved as 

 perfectly as the well-known insect remains that have so long excited 

 the wonder of the curiosity-seeker, and yielded so rich a harvest to 

 the entomologist. Of cellular plants 59 species were noticed thus 

 embalmed by the eminent botanist just mentioned, and among them 

 about two-fifths, and possibly more, as existing forms. Liverworts and 

 Lichens being the prevailing identities. One Fern only is mentioned. 

 The monocotyledons are restricted to the remains of an Alisma, a 

 Carex, and portions of grasses. No fewer than 51 Gymnosperms are 

 noted, and among them are identified Thuya occidentalis, an Abies, 

 probably canadensis, and the Librocedrus chilensis of Chili ! Of 

 Angiospermous exogens 42 species were found. Among these are 

 several regarded as identical with living types, as Andromeda hyp- 

 noides and ericoides, Pyrola imifiora, Verbascum thapsiforme, and 

 Sedum ternatum. The whole list and the comments of the author 

 are such as to excite the greatest curiosity, and to hold out hopes of 

 fresh results from an investigation so likely to throw light on the 

 climatal condition and geographical conformation of the northern 

 hemisphere during the late tertiary epoch of the formation of the 

 deposits in which the amber occurs. The same author has given an 



