CHAPTER V. 
Deposits containing Fossil Plants. 
IF we desire to trace out the past history of our native 
plants, we must study such relics as are preserved in 
various stratified deposits, especially those of which the 
geological position can be proved by other evidence. 
The questions are often asked :—Where are these relics 
to be found, and what is the method of research adopted? 
These are questions the answers to which will not be 
found in any text-book, nor, apparently, are they known 
to most geologists. It will be useful, therefore, to give 
a short description of the sort of deposits which have 
proved most prolific, and of the methods that have usually 
been adopted to obtain the plant-remains. This will be 
followed by an account of the fossiliferous strata already 
examined, with the leading characteristics of each, such 
as date, nature, and origin of the deposits, general 
character of the included fauna and flora, notes of any 
local circumstances which must have affected the plants, 
and finally, a list of the plants. This will occupy a good 
deal of space; but it is all information needed by the 
local geologist or botanist, and will, I hope, aid in the 
study of past history of the floras of our different counties 
and districts. References have been added to published 
authorities, from which a fuller account of the geology and 
zoology can be obtained; but in every case, unless other- 
