The plant reproduced in fig. 48 A (_Tristichia_), one of the Podostemaceae, might easily be mistaken for a foliose Liverwort if found as a fragmentary fossil. Such species of _Selaginella_ as _S. Oregana_ Eat. and _S. rupestris_ Spring (fig. 48 C) have a distinctly moss-like habit and do not present a very obvious resemblance to the more typical and better known Selaginellas. The twig of a _Podocarpus_ (_P. cupressina_)[454] in fig. 48 B affords an instance of a conifer which simulates to some extent certain of the larger-leaved Liverworts; it bears a resemblance also to some fossil fragments referred to _Selaginellites_ or _Lycopodites_. A small fossil specimen figured by Nathorst[455] from Japan as possibly a _Lycopodites_ may be compared with a coniferous twig, and with some of the larger Liverworts, _e.g._ species of _Plagiochila_[456]. _Podocarpus cupressina_ is, however, chiefly instructive as an example of the striking differences which are met with among species of the same genus; it differs considerably from the ordinary species of _Podocarpus_, and might well be identified as a member of some other group than that of the Coniferae. We have no records of Palaeozoic Hepaticae. The fossils which Zeiller has figured in his _Flore de Brive_ as _Schizopteris dichotoma_ Gümb.[457] and _S. trichomanoides_ Göpp. bear a resemblance to some forms of hepatics, but there is no satisfactory evidence for removing them from the position assigned to them by the French writer. In Mesozoic rocks a few specimens are known which bear a close resemblance as regards the form of the thalloid body to recent Liverworts, but the identification of such fossils cannot be absolutely trusted. Two French authors, MM. Fliche and Bleicher[458], have described a plant from Lower Oolite rocks near Nancy as a species of _Marchantia_, _M. oolithus_, but they point out the close agreement of such forked laminar structures to algae and lichens. From Tertiary and Post-Tertiary beds a certain number of fossil species have been recorded, but they possess no special botanical interest. ORDER MARCHANTIALES. The plant-body is always thalloid, bearing rhizoids on the lower surface, and having an epidermis with pores limiting the upper or dorsal surface. _Marchantites._ This convenient generic name was proposed by Brongniart in 1849[459]; it may be briefly defined as follows: Vegetative body of laminar form, with apparently dichotomous branches, and agreeing in habit with the recent thalloid Hepaticae, as represented by such a genus as _Marchantia_. The name _Marchantites_ is preferable to _Marchantia_, as the latter implies identity with the recent genus, whereas the former is used in a wide sense and refers rather to a definite form of vegetative body than to a particular generic type.