1542 



PHANEROGAMS. 



The reed-like plants of the family Typhacem occur throughout the 

 Tertiary, where we have Typha (Reed-mace) or the allied Typhceo- 

 loipum, and Sparganium, although it is doubtful if the Cretaceous 

 plants referred to these genera are rightly named. The Aracece 

 (Arums and their allies) appear to date from the Upper Cretaceous, 

 although it is extremely uncertain if the Tertiary plants described 

 as Aroites and Aronites really belong to this family. Acorus (Sweet- 

 flag) occurs in the Miocene of Spitzbergen, and is also found in 

 amber ; and Pistia, a tropical water-weed allied to the common 



1406. — A, Fruiting-organ of Goniolina ] B anil c, The individual fruits enlarged ; 

 from the Kimeridge Clay of France. (After Saporta and Marion.) 



Duck-weed (Zemna), occurs in the Laramie beds of America and 

 the Upper Cretaceous of the Continent ; but the plants from the 

 Westphalian Chalk and the Laramie beds, described as Pistites and 

 Le7?inophyllum, according to Dr Schenk, are not Monocotyledons. 

 Lemna has been described from the Laramie and Middle Tertiary 

 of North America, and also from the Miocene of Wiirtemberg. 

 Pothocites, of the Carboniferous, which has been referred to this 

 family, is part of a Sigillarian. In the aquatic Naiadacece we have 

 remains of the fluviatile genera Posidonia and the marine Zostera 

 (Zosterites) dating from the Upper Cretaceous of both the eastern 

 and western hemispheres. Cymodocea may also date back to the 

 Eocene, although many of the forms described under its synonym 

 of Caulinites are totally different. Naias occurs certainly in the 

 Miocene of (Eningen, and perhaps in lower beds ; while Potamo- 

 geton (Pond-weed), with its dimorphic leaves, dates from the 

 Upper Eocene of Aix, and is also found in the Tertiaries of North 

 America. 



Order 4. Glumiflor^e. — This order includes the Grasses, 

 Sedges, &c, and is of but little importance to the palaeontologist. 

 In the Gramineee, exclusive of some very doubtful forms, we may 

 notice that Bambusa (Bamboo) occurs in the Pliocene of Europe ; 



