﻿E. 
  W. 
  Berry 
  — 
  Evolution 
  of 
  Plants 
  and 
  Animals. 
  207 
  

  

  Art. 
  XVI. 
  — 
  The 
  Evolution 
  of 
  Flowering 
  Plants 
  and 
  

   Warm-blooded 
  Animals; 
  by 
  Edward 
  W. 
  Berry. 
  

  

  I 
  do 
  not 
  recall 
  that 
  anyone 
  has 
  directed 
  attention 
  to 
  

   the 
  practically 
  contemporaneous 
  evolution 
  of 
  warm- 
  

   blooded 
  animals 
  and 
  the 
  so-called 
  flowering 
  plants. 
  As 
  

   a 
  simple 
  matter 
  of 
  geologic 
  record 
  this 
  has 
  doubtless 
  

   been 
  done 
  but 
  no 
  one 
  has 
  suggested 
  the 
  correlation 
  of 
  

   these 
  striking 
  events, 
  which 
  in 
  each 
  case 
  represent 
  the 
  

   climacteric 
  development 
  of 
  the 
  respective 
  kingdoms. 
  

  

  As 
  regards 
  the 
  known 
  geological 
  records 
  the 
  first 
  

   mammals 
  antedate 
  the 
  first 
  birds 
  and 
  both 
  antedate 
  the 
  

   flowering 
  plants, 
  and 
  the 
  last 
  group 
  furnish 
  evidence 
  of 
  

   their 
  late 
  Mesozoic 
  differentiation 
  which 
  the 
  mammals 
  do 
  

   not, 
  except 
  as 
  this 
  is 
  inferred 
  from 
  the 
  sudden 
  appear- 
  

   ance 
  of 
  mammals 
  in 
  previously 
  unknown 
  variety 
  in 
  the 
  

   early 
  Eocene. 
  

  

  The 
  actual 
  ancestry 
  of 
  the 
  flowering 
  plants 
  is 
  still 
  

   shrouded 
  in 
  the 
  mists 
  of 
  ignorance. 
  Historically 
  their 
  

   earliest 
  appearance 
  in 
  the 
  geological 
  record 
  is 
  in 
  late 
  

   Lower 
  Cretaceous 
  time 
  where 
  they 
  are 
  represented 
  by 
  

   leaf 
  remains 
  and 
  petrified 
  wood. 
  These 
  earliest 
  known 
  

   types 
  do 
  not 
  appear 
  to 
  be 
  primitive 
  and 
  the 
  fact 
  that 
  

   they 
  have 
  been 
  found 
  in 
  such 
  widely 
  separated 
  regions 
  as 
  

   Europe, 
  Greenland, 
  North 
  America, 
  New 
  Zealand 
  and 
  

   Australia 
  justifies 
  the 
  assumption 
  that 
  they 
  must 
  have 
  

   had 
  an 
  extended 
  and 
  as 
  yet 
  unknown 
  antecedent 
  history 
  

   running 
  back 
  well 
  into 
  the 
  older 
  Mesozoic 
  although 
  they 
  

   could 
  not 
  have 
  become 
  fully 
  differentiated, 
  abundant 
  or 
  

   varied 
  in 
  those 
  earlier 
  and 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  hypothetical 
  

   days. 
  

  

  A 
  characteristic 
  feature 
  of 
  the 
  flowering 
  plants, 
  not 
  

   shared 
  by 
  the 
  members 
  of 
  any 
  other 
  plant 
  phylum, 
  is 
  

   that 
  the 
  ovary 
  is 
  closed 
  and 
  that 
  after 
  fertilization 
  it, 
  

   together 
  with 
  various 
  accessory 
  parts, 
  develops 
  into 
  a 
  

   fruit 
  or 
  pericarp. 
  The 
  production 
  of 
  fruit, 
  using 
  that 
  

   term 
  in 
  the 
  technical 
  rather 
  than 
  in 
  the 
  popular 
  sense, 
  is 
  

   a 
  characteristic 
  feature 
  of 
  the 
  flowering 
  plants, 
  and 
  the 
  

   mere 
  fact 
  that 
  fruit 
  is 
  a 
  vernacular 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  a 
  scientific 
  

   term 
  lends 
  emphasis 
  to 
  the 
  point 
  that 
  I 
  wish 
  to 
  elaborate. 
  

  

  Plants, 
  like 
  all 
  other 
  organisms, 
  are 
  concerned 
  chiefly 
  

   with 
  problems 
  of 
  nutrition 
  and 
  reproduction. 
  The 
  for- 
  

   mation 
  of 
  seeds, 
  an 
  event 
  which 
  occurred 
  during 
  the 
  Pale- 
  

  

  