INTERMEDIATE CHARACTER OF CYCADEvE. 493 
points within the buds), they resemble Ferns. 
(See PI. 1. F. 33, 34, 35, and PI. 58, 59.) 
I shall select the family of Cycadeee from the 
Fossil Flora of the Secondary period, and shall 
enter into some details respecting its organization, 
with a view of showing an example of the method 
of analysis, by which Geologists are enabled to 
arrive at information as to the structure and 
economy of extinct species of fossil vegetables, 
and of the importance of the conclusions they 
are enabled to establish. Those who have at- 
tended to the recent progress of vegetable Phy- 
siology will duly appreciate the value of micros- 
copic investigations, which enable us to identify 
the structure of vegetables of such remote anti- 
quity, with that which prevails in the organiza- 
tion of living species. 
The physiological discoveries that have lately 
been made with respect to living species of Cy- 
cadeoe, have shown them to occupy an inter- 
mediate place between Palms, Ferns, and Co- 
niferse, to each of which they bear certain points 
of resemblance ; and hence a peculiar interest 
attends the recognition of similar structures in 
fossil plants, referrible to a family whose charac- 
ters are so remarkable. 
The figure of a Cycas revoluta (PI. 58,)* re- 
presents the form and habit of plants belonging 
to this beautiful genus. In the magnificent crown 
* Drawn from a Plant in Lord Grenville's Conservatory at 
Dropmore in 1832. 
