1853.] HOOKER VOLKMANNIA MORRISII. 201 



orders of dicotyledonous living plants; viz. Casuai'inece and Gnefacece. 

 Of these, Casuarinece have the male flowers in catkins very similar to 

 that of V. gracilis, as figured by Sternberg, in which the supposed 

 subulate leaves resemble the exserted filaments of the jointed catkin 

 in the modern plant ; and in another species of Volkmannia we have 

 the so-called leaves or bracts of the cone terminated by swellings like 

 the anthers of Casuarina. But the Casnarinece have sheaths like 

 those of Equisetum at the nodes ; and, no known allies of this natural 

 order having hitherto been met with in the coal formation, it would 

 be rash to depend too much on the evidence I have detailed. Amongst 

 Gnetaceoe, the genus Ephedra, though differing much in some 

 respects, and especially in the small size of the catkins of male 

 flowers, presents in its sheathless joints and verticillate ramification 

 much analogy to Volkmannia, while it sometimes also bears foliaceous 

 organs at the nodes ; and the presence in the Carboniferous flora of 

 Coniferous plants (which are allied to Ephedra) is presumptive 

 evidence of their possible affinity. Again, much may be said in 

 favour of Lycopodiacece. and Equisetacece ; for while in the former 

 order the leaves are sometimes distant and whorled, on the other 

 hand the general resemblance of V. Morrisii to a gigantic Equisetum 

 without sheaths is obvious. It is, perhaps, not improbable that the 

 genus may prove to be allied to Lepidodendron, but there is no 

 species amongst either recent or fossil Lycopodiacece at all resem- 

 bling Sternberg's figure in structure or in ramification ; which latter 

 character probably led Unger to class it with his artificial group 

 AsterophyllitecB . 



I cannot but regret that such a remarkable and unique fossil 

 should pass through my hands unaccompanied by any more definite 

 information regarding its botanical affinities than that I have 

 hazarded ; but it must be borne in mind that the botanist can only 

 bring an experience matured by errors and disappointments to bear 

 upon incomplete specimens, especially of fossil plants. No progress 

 in systematic botany can be made without an extensive study of the 

 structure and morphology of plants, — of their comparative anatomy, 

 in short ; and the materials for these researches are seldom preserved 

 in fossil specimens. The familiar characters of plants are easily 

 acquired ; but when once lost sight of, the botanist must have 

 recourse to dissection, and in the first instance, to the dissection of 

 the reproductive organs, however minute ; and these, even when 

 present in the fossil, are almost invariably irretrievably injured. In 

 the Coal-flora we have but one famihar feature, the Polypodiacece ; 

 and we recognise these at once by their habit, and approximate to 

 their affinities by their venation. I know of no other genus of coal- 

 plants, of which it can be said that it is known to be at all closely 

 allied to any existing genus. To appreciate these difficulties, a very 

 extensive knowledge of recent plants is necessary ; and when this is 

 brought to bear upon fossils, the results are very barren of geological 

 conclusions. 



Plants are much more protean than animals in habit, and in the 

 form and characters of their external organs of support, assimilation. 



