PALEOBOTANY 



193 



absorbing interest and importance. The following table 

 indicates the known distribution of the various plant 

 groups from the earliest geologic time to the present. 



Table III. — Distribution op Plants in Geologic Time' 



'Modified from Shinier. ^See, however, p. 172. 



136. Gaps in the Fossil Record. — In the Origin of 

 Species Darwin called attention to the paltry display of 

 fossils in our museums, as evidence of how little we really 

 know of the plant and animal Hfe of past ages. "The 

 number, both of specimens and of species, preserved in 



