448 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLV 



dents have even gone so far as to assume an origin for the lower 

 Angiosperms from some similar type. Much more evidence, 

 however, is necessary before so startling a theory can be ac- 

 cepted. 



Professor Scott gives only a brief summary of the fossil his- 

 tory of the Conifers. The order can be traced back to the Per- 

 mian and it is possible that some types are still older. The oldest 

 reeo.miizable Conifers were apparently allied to the modern 

 Araucarias, and it may be noted in this connection that Seward 

 has expressed the opinion that the Araucariacea? show sufficient 

 similarity to the Lycopods to warrant the hypothesis that they 

 may have descended from some of the great seed-bearing Lyco- 

 pods of the Carboniferous. True Araucariacea 1 occur from the 

 Triassic, and probably existed in still older formations. 



The Taxodineee to which our bald cypress and Sequoia belong, 

 may go back to the Permian, but there seems to be some doubt 

 of the real relationships of the earliest fossils placed in this 

 family. The Abietinea?, i, e., the pines and firs, do not occur 

 before the later Jurassic and early Cretaceous formations, and 

 the true cypresses seem to be of about similar age. The Taxaceffi, 

 the Yew family, is apparently the most recent of the Conifers, 

 not being found below the Cretaceous. 



The geological history of the Angiosperms is very incomplete, 

 and they have received very much less attention than the 

 Pteridophytes and (iymnosperms which have so largely monop- 

 olized the attention of the paleobotanist. It would seem as if a 

 critical investigation of the abundant Cretaceous and Tertiary 

 remains of the Angiosperms, comparable to the many complete 

 studies on the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Pteridophytes and Gymno- 

 sperms, should yield results which would throw some light upon 

 the origin of the predominant plant-type of the present day. 



Douglas Houghton Campbell. 



