THE FERX BULLETIN 



63 



from an ancient branch of the cycads, the point at 

 which they appeared being somewhere near the mag- 

 nolia family. The structure which specially charac- 

 terizes the angiosperms is of course the seed, but we 

 are not to assume that the modern flowering plants 

 are the only ones to bear such structures. Many of 

 the species once called ferns are now known to have 

 had the seed habit and they are no longer classed with 

 the fossil ferns but form a new group the Pteridos- 

 perms. These are regarded as having originated 

 from the ferns, however, but are not considered the 

 ancestors of present plants. The Lycopodiums are 

 regarded as having existed from remote time almost 

 unchanged except as regards size and stem structure, 

 and to have given rise to no other modern groups. The 

 Sclagiiicllas have been found to run back as far or 

 farther than the Lycopodiums, and always, as at pres- 

 ent, with two sizes of spores. Nor does the author 

 regard the origin of the conifers from such groups as 

 at all probable. He is inclined to assign them a place 

 as the descendents of certain ancient plants called 

 Cordaites. An interesting point in the whole problem 

 is the fact that many of the earliest ferns, club-mosses 

 and scouring rushes, were much more complex in 

 structure than their modern descendents. The author 

 has succeeded very well in his aim to make a book for 

 the general public. It is free from technicalities, 

 well illustrated, and very attractively written. It is 

 published by Henry Holt & Co., New York at 75 cents 

 "Ancient Plants" by M. C. Stopes, is another book- 

 that will interest the student of fossil plants. This is 

 designed to give a full and popular account of the 

 vegetation that flourished on the earth in past ages 

 without special attempt being made to trace the origin 

 of their modern descendants. A great deal of the work 



