wABD-5 CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES. 423 



treating Stigmaria as a dicotyledonous plant. He places the "Oy- 

 cadeacese" between the Cryptogams and the Monocotyledons, but 

 strangely separates them from the Coniferse and Gnetacete, which he 

 makes to follow the palms and precede the forms now referred to the 

 apetalous division ; though he does not recognize by special names the 

 divisions of the Dicotyledons established by Jussieu. Still, in arrang- 

 ing the orders, he follows the system of A. L. de Jussieu, and not 

 that of Adrien de Jussieu. No illustrations accompany this work. 



In Goppert's " Monographie der fossilen Coniferen " we have another 

 of those exhaustive works upon difflcult subjects which characterize 

 this author. When we say that it forms a quarto volume of 359 pages, 

 with 58 plates, half of which are devoted to the illustration of internal 

 structure as revealed by microscopic examination, we have given but a 

 rude idea of the work. The first 67 pages relate entirely to living 

 Conifers and fitly prepare the way for a thorough treatment of the 

 fossil forms. To the treatise on fossil Conifers is prefixed an historical 

 introduction of nearly a hundred pages, in which, as in the historical 

 introduction to his " Systema filicum fossilium," he marshals the litera- 

 ture with great effect, and, as in the former case he found it impossible 

 to confine himself to fern life, so in the present case he makes it the oc- 

 casion for a thorough study of the history of man's acquaintance not 

 merely with coniferous fossil wood, but with fossil wood in general, 

 which for ages remained the only known form of vegetable petrifaction. 



Besides the systematic description of all coniferous fossils known to 

 him, the work contains a most valuable enumeration of localities where 

 fossil wood, beds of coal, and fossil plants in general had been found 

 from the year 1821 to the end of 1849, arranged primarily according to 

 their position in the geological system. It also contains an arrange- 

 ment of the species of Coniferse according to geological horizons. 



The remainder of the numerous productions of the year 1850 must be 

 passed over in silence, as their bare enumeration would consume con- 

 siderable space, and without glancing at their special merits would add 

 little to the reader's knowledge respecting them. As has already been 

 stated {supra, p. -379, 380) it was in 1850 that both Massalongo and Baron 

 von Ettingshausen began their work in the domain of fossil plants, so 

 that at this date no less than fourteen of those who have been men- 

 tioned as leaders of the science were living and actively engaged in ex- 

 tending its boundaries. 



We have thus passed in review the literature of fossil plants from 

 the earliest records down to the close of the first half of the nineteenth 

 century. The plan was, and still is, to continue this survey down to 

 the present time, though confining attention more and more, as the 

 literature increases in volume, to the most important works. But for 

 the present purpose the carrying out of this plan is manifestly impos- 

 sible from considerations of both space and of time, and it must be 

 postponed until the work to which it was intended as an introduction 



