﻿H. 
  B. 
  Guppy 
  — 
  Fossil 
  Botany 
  in 
  Western 
  World. 
  373 
  

  

  reveal 
  more 
  of 
  the 
  secrets 
  of 
  the 
  earth's 
  history 
  than 
  the 
  

   Old 
  World, 
  but 
  because 
  it 
  will 
  tell 
  the 
  story 
  in 
  a 
  better 
  

   way, 
  that 
  is 
  to 
  say, 
  in 
  a 
  clearer 
  and 
  less 
  ambiguous 
  

   fashion. 
  The 
  problem 
  of 
  the 
  "Western 
  World 
  is 
  in 
  a 
  rela- 
  

   tive 
  sense 
  a 
  clean-cut 
  problem. 
  Here, 
  far 
  aloof 
  from 
  the 
  

   other 
  great 
  land-masses, 
  we 
  have 
  a 
  continent 
  that 
  runs 
  

   with 
  the 
  meridians 
  almost 
  from 
  pole 
  to 
  pole. 
  In 
  the 
  Old 
  

   World 
  there 
  is 
  more 
  longitude 
  than 
  latitude, 
  and 
  we 
  have 
  

   in 
  consequence 
  two 
  such 
  problems, 
  but 
  the 
  problems 
  are 
  

   not 
  clean-cut 
  and 
  their 
  issues 
  are 
  often 
  confused. 
  Thus, 
  

   one 
  is 
  concerned 
  with 
  Europe 
  and 
  Western 
  Asia 
  and 
  

   their 
  southern 
  extension, 
  the 
  African 
  Continent. 
  The 
  

   other 
  affects 
  Eastern 
  Asia, 
  Malaya 
  and 
  Australasia. 
  

   Although 
  there 
  will 
  be 
  a 
  Mediterranean 
  question 
  in 
  all 
  

   three 
  problems, 
  for 
  the 
  Western 
  World 
  will 
  have 
  its 
  

   Caribbaea 
  and 
  Eastern 
  Asia 
  will 
  have 
  its 
  Malaya, 
  yet 
  for 
  

   the 
  most 
  definite 
  and 
  the 
  straightest 
  of 
  issues 
  we 
  shall 
  

   have 
  to 
  look 
  alone 
  to 
  the 
  New 
  World. 
  

  

  The 
  geological 
  record 
  has 
  not 
  always 
  been 
  unkind 
  to 
  

   the 
  student 
  of 
  the 
  floras 
  of 
  the 
  later 
  ages 
  in 
  the 
  western 
  

   hemisphere. 
  In 
  its 
  presentment 
  of 
  the 
  problem 
  at 
  the 
  

   outset 
  its 
  action 
  is 
  distinctly 
  benign. 
  For 
  in 
  a 
  broad 
  

   sense 
  the 
  generic 
  types 
  that 
  first 
  appear 
  above 
  the 
  geo- 
  

   logical 
  horizon 
  are 
  with 
  him 
  now. 
  He 
  begins 
  with 
  the 
  

   cosmopolitanism 
  of 
  such 
  types 
  in 
  the 
  Cretaceous 
  age 
  and 
  

   he 
  ends 
  with 
  their 
  more 
  restricted 
  distribution 
  and 
  some- 
  

   what 
  greater 
  specialization 
  now. 
  Since 
  he 
  discovers 
  

   that 
  he 
  is 
  not 
  much 
  nearer 
  the 
  origin 
  of 
  such 
  plant-forms 
  

   in 
  the 
  Cretaceous 
  than 
  he 
  is 
  at 
  present, 
  he 
  shelves 
  the 
  

   question 
  of 
  origins, 
  at 
  least 
  for 
  a 
  while. 
  The 
  geological 
  

   record 
  leaves 
  the 
  main 
  problem 
  at 
  the 
  finish 
  almost 
  as 
  it 
  

   presented 
  it 
  at 
  the 
  beginning 
  ; 
  and 
  for 
  him 
  the 
  pre-Cre- 
  

   taceous 
  story 
  of 
  these 
  forms, 
  that 
  have 
  preserved 
  their 
  

   essential 
  characters 
  through 
  unknown 
  ages, 
  is 
  as 
  a 
  tale 
  

   untold. 
  This 
  is 
  why 
  I 
  have 
  said 
  that 
  the 
  geological 
  

   record 
  has 
  in 
  a 
  sense 
  not 
  been 
  unkind 
  to 
  the 
  student 
  of 
  

   angiospermous 
  floras 
  in 
  the 
  western 
  hemisphere. 
  

  

  We 
  find 
  him 
  then 
  at 
  the 
  limit 
  of 
  the 
  known, 
  with 
  

   blankness 
  beyond; 
  and 
  he 
  is 
  thankful 
  that 
  there 
  are 
  no 
  

   will-of-the-wisp 
  problems 
  to 
  lure 
  him 
  on. 
  Yet 
  there 
  is 
  an 
  

   air 
  of 
  unreality, 
  almost 
  of 
  dreamland, 
  about 
  it 
  all 
  ; 
  and 
  

   he 
  falls 
  into 
  a 
  reverie. 
  He 
  is 
  watching 
  the 
  emergence 
  

   of 
  the 
  primal 
  forms 
  of 
  the 
  flowering 
  plants 
  in 
  the 
  Creta- 
  

   ceous 
  period; 
  and 
  as 
  he 
  watches, 
  the 
  problem 
  is 
  ever 
  

  

  