222 The Palaeontological Record. II. Plants 
surprising ; their presence may well serve as an incentive to further 
research but does not, as it seems to the writer, justify the assump- 
tion of changes in the past, wholly without analogy among living 
organisms, 
As regards the succession of species, there are no greater au- 
thorities than Grand’Eury and Zeiller, and great weight must be 
attached to their opinion that the evidence from continuous deposits 
favours a somewhat sudden change from one specific form to another. 
At the same time it will be well to bear in mind that the subject of the 
“absence of numerous intermediate varieties in any single formation” 
was fully discussed by Darwin'; the explanation which he gave may 
go a long way to account for the facts which recent writers have 
regarded as favouring the theory of saltatory mutation. 
The rapid sketch given in the present essay can do no more than 
call attention to a few salient points, in which the palaeontological 
records of plants has an evident bearing on the Darwinian theory. 
At the present day the whole subject of palaeobotany is a study in 
evolution, and derives its chief inspiration from the ideas of Darwin 
and Wallace. In return it contributes something to the verification of 
their teaching ; the recent progress of the subject, in spite of the 
immense difficulties which still remain, has added fresh force to 
Darwin’s statement that “the great leading facts in palaeontology 
agree admirably with the theory of descent with modification through 
variation and natural selection?.” 
1 Origin of Species, pp. 275—282, and p. 312. 2 Ibid. p. 313. 
