erefore, imply the
existence of abundance of vegetable life at the very commencement of the
era of which we have any geological record.[192]

Ferns, as already stated, begin in the Middle Silurian formation with
the Eopteris Morrieri. In the Devonian, we have 79 species, in the
Carboniferous 627, and in the Permian 186 species; after which fossil
ferns diminish greatly, though they are found in every formation; and
the fact that fully 3000 living species are known, while the richest
portion of the Tertiary in fossil plants--the Miocene--- has only
produced 87 species, will serve to indicate the extreme imperfection of
the geological record.

The Equisetaceae (horsetails) which also first appear in the Silurian and
reach their maximum development in the Coal formation, are, in all
succeeding formations, far less numerous than ferns, and only thirty
living species are known. Lycopodiaceae, though still more abundant in
the Coal formation, are very rarely found in any succeeding deposit,
though the living species are tolerably numerous, about 500 having been
described. As we cannot suppose them to have really diminished and then
increased again in this extraordinary manner, we have another indication
of the exceptional nature of plant preservation and the extreme and
erratic character of the imperfection of the record.

Passing now to the next higher division of plants--the gymnosperms--we
find Coniferae appearing in the Upper Silurian, becoming tolerably
abundant in the Devonian, and reaching a maximum in the Carboniferous,
from which formation more than 300 species are known, equal to the
number recorded as now living. They occur in all succeeding formations,
being abundant in the Oolite, and excessively so in the Miocene, from
which 250 species have been described. The allied family of gymnosperms,
the Cycadaceae, first appear in the Carboniferous era, but very
scantily; are most abundant in the Oolite, from which formation 116
species are known, and then steadily diminish to the Tertiary, although
there are seventy-five living species.

We now come to the true flowering plants, and we first meet with
monocotyledons in the Carboniferous and Permian formations. The
character of these fossils was long disputed, but is now believed to be
well established; and the sub-class continues to be present in small
numbers in all succeeding deposits, becoming rather plentiful in the
Upper Cretaceous, and very abundant in the Eoc