220 Seward . — On the History of Monocotyledons . 
first described, and thus it has been found desirable to modify 
or entirely depart from the determinations of some previous 
writers. Without venturing to speak dogmatically as to the 
correctness of some of the suggested alterations, it may be 
safely urged that it is of extreme importance to critically 
examine the records of fossil angiospermous species before 
accepting them as trustworthy contributions towards the 
history of plant-evolution. The evidence at present available 
does not, I believe, afford any proof of the existence of 
Monocotyledons in Pre- cretaceous strata. 
EXPLANATION OF FIGURES IN PLATE XIV. 
Illustrating Mr. Seward’s paper on Fossil Monocotyledons. 
Specimens figured Natural Size. 
For the drawings reproduced in the Plate, I am indebted to my Wife. 
Fig. i. Zamia Loddigesii , Miq. Portion of a much branched stem. (Plant in 
the Botanic Gardens, Cambridge.) 
Fig. 2. Zamia Skinneri. Warsz. Portion of erect stem, 26 cm. in girth. (Plant 
in the Royal Gardens, Kew.) 
Fig. 3. Benstedtia , sp. Specimen originally figured on a smaller scale by 
Mackie in the Geologist , Vol. v, 1862, PI. xxii, (No. 1764 in the British Museum 
Register). 
Fig. 4. Araucarites elegans (Carr.). Waterworn specimen from the Lower 
Greensand beds of Potton (Bedfordshire) ; in the Woodwardian Museum, 
Cambridge. 
