the fossil specimens, huge in dimensions as those of Craigleith are, do not excel the existing races. The araucaria, or Norfolk Island pine, attains a height of two hundred feet; and in the Oregon territory of North-West America, there are species of the fir tribe (P. Lambertiana and P. Douglasii), which rise to even still more gigantic proportions. Figuratively, it is said of the cedar, that its branches shall cover the earth, and in the shadow thereof all fowl of every wing shall dwell: literally and truly we find, that members of the same family have existed in all lands, and flourished in the mountains through all ages. Compared with the present condition of things, New Zealand bears the most striking resemblance in the character of its vegetation to the flora of the ancient carboniferous age. “The number of species of plants at present known is 632, of which 314 are dicotyledonous, and the rest, or 318, are monocotyledonous and cellular. The number of monocotyledonous is very small in comparison with the cellular; there are 76 species. The grasses have given way to ferns, for the ferns and fern-like plants are the most numerous in New Zealand, and cover immense districts. They replace the _gramineæ_ or grasses of other countries, and give a character to all the open land of the hills and plains. Some of the arborescent species grow to thirty feet and more in height, and the variety and elegance of their forms, from the minutest species to the giants of their kind, are most remarkable.”[4] These few types of the flora of the ancient world clearly indicate the course and progress of creation. A dense vegetable covering already existed over all the earth. No grasses, indeed, as yet are found to have clothed the plains. But marsh plants grew luxuriantly in the waters. Fucoids and algæ abounded in the seas. The hills and mountains raised high in air their pines, palms, and fern-trees; nor would creepers and parasites be wanting, climbing to their topmost branches and mingling their bright enlivening hues with the dark somber shades of the forest. Earth heard the voice of its Maker, and everything good and seasonable sprang from its teeming bosom. The carboniferous limestones are everywhere loaded with ANIMAL remains. Every member of the series, the ironstones, sandstones, shales, and even the coal itself, all abound in relics of the past; and, as was to be expected, the fossils chiefly belong to marine forms of life. And in these there is no great departure, as might likewise be inferred, from the orders, and even generic types, we have been surveying in the lower formations. But there is an increase in the species of some of them, as well as the introduction of new and distinct creations altogether. [Illustration: 1. Product. scabriculus; 2. Inoceramus vetustus; 3. Bellerophon tangentialis.]