HICK : SOME RECENT ADVANCES IN BRITISH PALiEOBOTANY. 57 
Lastly, on the question of affinities, our knowledge has advanced 
considerably, with the result that while some older views have been 
confirmed others have undergone more or less modification. In some 
cases, as in that of Sphaneophyllum, the fossil forms refuse to be 
incorporated in the groups formed by existing plants, and the system 
has to be enlarged in order to accommodate them. This, though 
troublesome in some respects for the time being, is a result which 
should be welcomed, as bringing us a step nearer to that system of 
classification which, at least approximately, will represent the actual 
course of evolutionary progress. 
R 
