[CHAPTER VI.]
FOSSIL VEGETABLES.
In the present section of this work, I propose to explain the botanical arrangement and nomenclature of fossil plants; and figure and describe one or more species of the genera that are most likely to come under the observation of the student, either in public or private collections, or in the course of his researches in the field.
To determine the botanical relations of fossil leaves and stems, reference must be had to works expressly devoted to the subject; namely, the "British Fossil Flora," by Dr. Lindley and Mr. Hutton, and the "Histoire des Végétaux Fossiles," by M. Adolphe Brongniart. The classification of the last-named eminent botanist is here adopted, as the most easy of application.
With regard to the nomenclature, it may be necessary to remark, that when a fossil plant undoubtedly belongs to a recent genus, the usual botanical name is employed: for example, Equisetum Lyellii; when the fossil does not possess all the generic characters, yet is evidently allied to a recent genus, the term ites (from λιθος, lithos, stone), is added—as Equisetites, Palmacites, &c.; and this termination is invariably adopted by some authors. When the fossil plant differs altogether from any known type, it is distinguished by some arbitrary generic name, as Bucklandia, Sigillaria, &c.
There are also a few provisional genera for the reception of fossil leaves, fruits, and stems, whose characters and relations are but imperfectly known; as Carpolithes, Endogenites, &c. Upon these principles the present arrangement has been founded: the progress of discovery will, of course, be continually adding to the list, and the classification require to be modified.
FOSSIL CRYPTOGAMIA.
The following account of the principal types of the ancient floras whose relics are preserved in the mineral kingdom, though commencing with those of the most simple structure, the Cryptogamia, and advancing to the higher orders, is not strictly botanical; for it was found convenient, in some instances, to notice certain species and genera of different orders under the same head, from their occurrence in the same geological formations.