172 The Meeting of the British Association . 
numerous and widespread, the few genera existing to-day being but 
scattered remnants of the great group. In America whole forests 
of Cycadaccous trees have been found embedded in later Jurassic 
rocks, while the Cycads of to-day are all found as isolated indivi¬ 
duals, usually among the angiospermous trees of tropical or sub¬ 
tropical forests. 
The Conifers were largely represented by Araucarioid forms, 
the recognisable Abietinese making their mark only in later 
Mesozoic times. 
The Ginkgoales, another phylum of Gymnosperms, of which 
the Maidenhair-tree (Ginkgo bilobn) of China and Japan is the sole 
living representative, were very abundant in all parts of the world. 
Among the Ferns, the Polypodiaceae, which are the dominant 
modern ferns, far more numerous in genera, species and individuals 
than all the other existing ferns put together, were but slightly 
represented, though they apparently existed even in Palaeozoic 
times; while other families, now represented by few and isolated 
forms, c.g. Schizaeaceae, Gleicheniaceae, Dipteridinae and Matoni- 
neae were widespread and abundant. 
The next great flora which we can distinguish is of course that 
marked by the dominance of Angiosperms, and is the flora which 
covers the earth at the present time. The sudden rise of this 
modern flora is one of the most striking phenomena in the geo¬ 
logical history of plants. In rocks of the same age as the Wealden 
beds a few remains of plants which are considered to be Angio¬ 
sperms have been found, but it is not till later Cretaceous and early 
Tertiary times that the modern flora appeared in abundance, and 
then it rapidly secured the supremacy of the plant world. Somd of 
the older types lingered on, but of the lower groups of vascular 
plants only a few of the ferns (particularly Polypodiace^e), and some 
of the Conifers, especially Abietineae, maintained their hold as the 
dominant forms over certain areas of the earth’s surface. 
Mr. Seward’s admirable address (which we hope may be re¬ 
issued in more accessible form) illustrates in a striking way the 
fundamental fact, whose fuller recognition has been the basis of 
of the great advances in morphology which have characterised the 
last decade, that “ in every detail the present is built on the past.” 
After the conclusion of the President’s address, the vote of 
thanks for which was moved by Professor Balfour, and seconded 
by Dr, Lotsy, the reports of Committees appointed at the last 
