﻿NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Fossil Plants of the Wealden. 

 Catalogue of the Mesozoic Plants in the Department of Geobujij, llntUh 

 Museum (Natural HUtory). The Wealden Flora. Part I. 

 Thallophyta— Pteridophyta. With 11 Plates. By A. C. 

 Seward, M.A., F.G.S., University Lecturer in Botany, Cam- 

 bridge. London, 1894. 8vo, pp. xxxviii, 179; tt. 11. Price 10s. 

 The present volume contains a very full account— by no means 

 a mere catalogue — of the British Museum specimens of cryptogamic 

 plants from the Wealden formation. As stated in the preface, the 

 labours of Mr. Rufford, whose fine collection has lately been acquired 

 for the National Museum, have been the primary cause of this 

 Catalogue. It is a matter for congratulation that the investigation 

 of this fossil flora has been undertaken by a botanist such as Mr. 

 Seward, who is skilled in the study of recent plants. 



A general review of the Wealden flora will be given in Part ii., 

 when the work is completed. It appears from the Introduction that 

 no distinct remains of Angiosperms are included in the collection, 

 although it seems to have been about at this geological period that 

 the higher Flowering Plants first made their appearance. Their 

 absence is disappointing, and indeed it cannot be said that the 

 specimens generally, so far as they are included in the present 

 volume, throw any great light on important botanical questions. 

 A good many of the fossils described are known only by the external 

 form of some portions of the vegetative organs. Where neither 

 fructification nor internal structure is preserved, fossil specimens 

 have little botanical interest, though of course it is necessary to 

 record them, in hope of future additions to our knowledge. 

 Exception must be made of a genus like Equisetum, in which 

 even the vegetative habit may be sufficiently characteristic. The 

 author in all cases enters very fully into the characters of the 

 specimen, and makes as much out of it as can be made. 



The Cryptogams in the collection comprise two Algse, one Chara, 

 one Bryophyte, two specimens of uncertain class, three Equisetacea, 

 and twenty -three Ferns— thirty-two "species" in all. The name 

 "Algites" is used for specimens with an alga-like habit, the syste- 

 matic position of which cannot be more precisely determined. 

 This cautious nomenclature is certainly to be commended. Two 

 such forms are described : one, A. valdensis, bears some resemblance 

 to Chondrus crispus, but its striking similarity to the liverwort 

 Reboulia hemispherica is also pointed out, so that even the algal 

 affinities of the fossil appear to be doubtful. A new species of 

 Chara, C. Knowltoni, of which only the oogonia are known, is 

 described. The solitary Bryophyte is Marchantites Zeilleri, sp. nov. 

 The author is careful to explain that he uses Brongniart's generic 

 name as referring rather to "a type of vegetative body than to a 

 special genus" (p. 18). 



Passing on to the Pteridophyta, three species of Equisetites are 

 described. E. Lyelli Mantell is well known, and is represented by 



