i68 ANCIENT PLANTS 



described by French writers, but they do not carry 

 conviction. 



As was stated at the beginning of the chapter, from 

 all the fossils of all the lower-plant families we cannot 

 learn much of prime importance for the present purpose. 

 Yet, as the history of plants would be incomplete without 

 mention of the little that is known, the foregoing pages 

 have been added. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



FOSSIL PLANTS AS RECORDS OF ANCIENT 

 COUNTRIES 



The land which to-day appears so firm and un- 

 changing has been under the sea many times, and in 

 many different ways has been united to other land masses 

 to form continents. At each period, doubtless, the solid 

 earth appeared as stable as it is now, while the country 

 was as well characterized, and had its typical scenery, 

 plants, and animals. We know what an important 

 feature of the character of any present country is its 

 flora; and we have no reason to suspect that it was ever 

 less so than it is to-day. Indeed, in the ages before 

 men interfered with forest growth, and built their cities, 

 with their destructive influences, the plants were rela- 

 tively more important in the world landscape than they 

 are to-day. 



As we go back in the periods of geological history 

 we find the plants had an ever- increasing area of dis- 

 tribution. To-day most individual species and many 

 genera are limited to islands or parts of continents, but 

 before the Glacial epoch many were distributed over both 

 America and Europe. In the Mesozoic Ginkgo was 

 spread all over the world, and in the present epoch it 

 was confined to China and Japan till it was distributed 



