108 
be entered on in this work. Suffice it to say that our great 
botanists consider the structure and character of the trunks 
of the Fern Trees growing in the tropics and south tem- 
perate zone to correspond with what is found in a fossilized 
state in our coal measures. 
A difficulty has arisen iu the minds of some as to the 
possibility of Fern Trees growing in our temperate zone. 
It has therefore been argued that the Ferns in our mines 
have been drifted from a considerable distance. Professor 
Lindley considers this not to be a correct view. He asserts 
that they grew, at the most, within a few hundred miles of 
the places where they are now deposited, and probably in 
their very vicinity. As a confirmation to his argument, he 
states that the vegetable impressions in the English coal 
measures were by no means water worn, while those in the 
British Museum, from Melville Island, were so rubbed and 
damaged, that they might have travelled from the very 
equator before they were deposited. This seems to clearly 
show that these plants grew near the spots where they are 
now found. Tree Ferns are now growing in New Zealand, 
and especially on the south side of Van Diemen’s Land, 
where the mean temperature does not exceed 54 degrees 
Fahrenheit. The remains then of these plants is no good 
evidence of a tropical climate, or of a climate materially 
unlike that which we now experience. 
Another question arises, how it comes to pass that the 
Ferns form so large a proportion of the plants found in our 
coal measures. Was not vegetation difierent in the days 
of their existence from that of the present time ? How is 
it that there is not a trace found of the grasses and the 
numerous herbs and shrubs which now adorn our earth ? 
Beautiful as the Ferns are, we love to see our “ valleys stand 
so thick with corn, that they shall laugh and sing.” Was 
there no corn in those primeval ages ? Here again Professor 
Lindley has come to the rescue. On the 2Ist of March, 
1833, he filled a large iron tank with water, and immersed 
in it one hundred and seventy seven specimens of various 
plants belonging to the more remarkable natural orders, 
taking care to include representatives of those which are 
found in the coal measures, and those which are found 
generally dispersed over the globe at the present day, and 
