on of the Angiosperms to the Gymnosperms,
on that of the Seed-plants generally to the Ferns, and on the
interrelations between the various classes of the higher Cryptogams.

That the fossil record has not done still more for Evolution is due to
the fact that it begins too late--a point on which Darwin laid stress
("Origin of Species" (6th edition), page 286.) and which has more
recently been elaborated by Poulton. ("Essays on Evolution", pages 46
et seq., Oxford, 1908.) An immense proportion of the whole evolutionary
history lies behind the lowest fossiliferous rocks, and the case is
worse for plants than for animals, as the record for the former begins,
for all practical purposes, much higher up in the rocks.

It may be well here to call attention to a question, often overlooked,
which has lately been revived by Reinke. (Reinke, loc. cit. page 13.) As
all admit, we know nothing of the origin of life; consequently, for all
we can tell, it is as probable that life began, on this planet, with
many living things, as with one. If the first organic beings were many,
they may have been heterogeneous, or at least exposed to different
conditions, from their origin; in either case there would have been a
number of distinct series from the beginning, and if so we should not
be justified in assuming that all organisms are related to one another.
There may conceivably be several of the original lines of descent still
surviving, or represented among extinct forms--to reverse the remark
of a distinguished botanist, there may be several Vegetable Kingdoms!
However improbable this may sound, the possibility is one to be borne in
mind.

That all VASCULAR plants really belong to one stock seems certain, and
here the palaeontological record has materially strengthened the
case for a monophyletic history. The Bryophyta are not likely to be
absolutely distinct, for their sexual organs, and the stomata of the
Mosses strongly suggest community of descent with the higher plants; if
this be so it no doubt establishes a certain presumption in favour of
a common origin for plants generally, for the gap between "Mosses and
Ferns" has been regarded as the widest in the Vegetable Kingdom. The
direct evidence of consanguinity is however much weaker when we come to
the Algae, and it is conceivable (even if improbable) that the higher
plants may have had a distinct ancestry (now wholly lost) from the
beginning. The question had been raised in Darwin'