2o6 
The Morphology of Angiospernis. 
why the seeds of extinct trees are often more massive and of more 
complicated structure than the seeds of Gymnosperms, their nearest 
living allies. In the second place though the complex structure 
may prevail over the simpler one under the ordinary conditions of 
life, stations continually present themselves to which the simpler 
organism is better adapted. Thus the competition for light in 
tropical forests leads to trees of enormous height branching only 
near the top, and the day of herbaceous plants would seem to he 
over. But epiphytes and climbers establish themselves on the trees 
and often get the lion’s share of light without needing so cumbrous 
a machinery to secure it. 
In some cases primitive forms survive in such positions — the 
backwaters of Nature. Aquatic animals and plants are sometimes 
of more primitive structure than their allies on land, and this is 
commonly attributed to their remote ancestors having been driven 
into ponds and streams by the greater competition on shore. But 
epiphytes as a class are not primitive, and it is clear that the original 
flora of the tropical forest would have little chance of surviving on 
the tree-tops. Before trees of sufficient size to support them had 
been evolved in the fierce struggle for light, the primitive herbaceous 
flora would have been strangled for want of it. The epiphytic flora 
would probably spring from the seeds of herbaceous plants carried 
to the tree-tops from a distance by the wind or by birds, and though 
the conditions under which they live no doubt impose simplicity of 
structure, it is a simplicity gained by reduction of unnecessary parts. 
Every flowering plant has an enormously long genealogy, and 
in each generation the tendency is for the improved offspring to 
replace the older parent type. Even in the havens just described 
the primitive type is always in danger of being crowded out by some 
more advanced form which has discovered how to adapt itself by 
reduction to a simpler life. The primitive type is lost for ever when 
it is extinct, but there are endless possibilities of reduction. 
The writer cannot but think that in an advanced group such as 
the Angiosperms, the chances are very much in favour of reduction 
as against primitiveness when the unusual simplicity of an organ 
calls for explanation. 
We learn from the Preface that the book thus imperfectly 
noticed is the outcome of University teaching. No greater proof 
could be given of the excellence of a University course than the 
appearance of a text-book founded on it which is at once fresh and 
thorough. 
October , 1903. 
ETHEL SARGANT. 
