The generic name was proposed by Vaillant in 1719[438], and adopted by Linnaeus, who classed the Stoneworts with aquatic phanerogams. As long ago as 1623[439] a figure of _Chara_ was published by Caspar Bauhin as a form of _Equisetum_. The generic name _Chara_ has usually been applied to recent and fossil species alike. The existing species have a wide distribution; _Chara foetida_, A. Br., a common British form, occurs in practically all parts of the world. Stems and calcareous ‘fruit-cases’ occur fairly commonly in a fossil state, and differ but little from recent species, at least as regards essential features. It is difficult to say at what geological horizon the Stoneworts are first represented. The first certain traces of _Chara_ occur in Jurassic rocks, but certain spirally marked subspherical bodies have been recorded from Devonian and Carboniferous strata, which closely resemble Chara oogonia, and may be Palaeozoic representatives of the genus. In 1889 Mr Knowlton[440] of the American Geological Survey described some ‘problematic organisms’ found in Devonian rocks at the falls of the Ohio. Examples of these fossils are shown in fig. 46 _b_ and _c_; the spirally grooved body measures from 1·50 to 1·80 mm. in diameter, and about 1·70 mm. in length. The Chara-like character of the fossils had been previously suggested by Meek[441] in 1873. Without going into the arguments for or against placing these fossils in the Chareae, they may at least be mentioned as possible but not certain Palaeozoic forms of _Chara_ or an allied genus. [Illustration: FIG. 46. _a_. _Chara Bleicheri_ Sap. × 30. _b_ and _c_. Devonian _Chara_? sp. _circa_ × 12. _d_ and _e_. _Chara Wrighti_ Forbes. _circa_ × 12.] 1. _Chara Bleicheri_, Saporta. Fig. 46, _a_. In this form the ‘fruits’ are minute and subspherical, ·39-·44 mm. long, and ·35-·40 mm. broad, showing in side view 5–6 slightly oblique spiral bands. Each spiral band bears a row of slightly projecting tubercles. This species was first described by Saporta[442] from the Oxfordian (Jurassic) rocks of the Department of Lot in France; it is compared by the author of the species with _Chara Jaccardi_ Heer, described by Heer from the Upper Jurassic rocks of Switzerland. 2. _C. Knowltoni_, Seward. Fig. 45, _a_ and _b_, and Fig. 47. The Oogonia are broadly oval, about ·5mm. in length, and at the broadest part of about the same breadth. The surface is marked by eleven or twelve bands in the form of a flattened spiral. The stems possess investing cortical cells.