In the first place, we recognise here the successors of our old friends, the ferns and the pines, the latter represented by such genera as _Taxites_, _Sequoia_, _Glyptostrobus_, _Gingko_, and even _Pinus_ itself. We also have a few cycads, but not so dominant as in the previous ages. The fan-palms are well represented, both in America and in the corresponding series in Europe, especially by the genus _Sabal_, which is the characteristic American type of fan-palm, and there is one genus which Saporta regards as intermediate between the fan-palms and the pinnately leaved species. There are also many fragments of stems and leaves of carices and grasses, so that these plants, now so important to the nourishment of man and his companion animals, were already represented. [Illustration: Fig. 70.--Vegetation of Later Cretaceous. Exogens and palms. (After Saporta.)] But the great feature of the time was its dicotyledonous forests, and I have only to enumerate the genera supposed to be represented in order to show the richness of the time in plants of this type. It may be necessary to explain here that the generic names used are mostly based on leaves, and consequently cannot be held as being absolutely certain, since we know that at present one genus may have considerable variety in its leaves, and, on the other hand, that plants of different genera may be very much alike in their foliage. There is, however, undoubtedly a likeness in plan or type of structure in leaves of closely allied plants, and, therefore, if judiciously studied, they can be determined with at least approximate certainty.[DM] More especially we can attain to much certainty when the fruits as well as the leaves are found, and when we can obtain specimens of the wood, showing its structure. Such corroboration is not wanting, though unfortunately the leaves of trees are generally found drifted away from the other organs once connected with them. In my own experience, however, I have often found determinations of the leaves of trees confirmed by the discovery of their fruits or of the structure of their stems. Thus, in the rich cretaceous plant-beds of the Dunvegan series we have beech-nuts associated in the same beds with leaves referred to _Fagus_. In the Laramie beds I determined many years ago nuts of the _Trapa_ or water-chestnut, and subsequently Lesquereux found, in beds in the United States, leaves which he referred to the same genus. Later, I found in collections made on the Red Deer River of Canada my fruits and Lesquereux's leaves on the same slab. The presence of trees of the genera _Carya_ and _Juglans_ in the same formation was inferred from their leaves, and specimens have since been obtained of silicified wood, with the microscopic structure of the modern butternut. Still we are willing to admit that determinations from leaves alone are liable to doubt.