M. A. F. G. S. A. C. Seward Books

In acceding to Mr Shipley's request to write a book on Fossil Plants for the Cambridge Natural History Series, I am well aware that I undertaken a work which was considered too serious a task by one who has been called a "founder of modern Palaeobotany." I owe more than I am able to express to the friendship and guidance of the late Professor Williamson; and that I have attempted a work to which he consistently refuse to commit himself, requires a world of explanation.

I regret that pressure of other work has prevented the completion of Volume 1. Had Volume 2 been written ten years ago, the discoveries made in the course of the last decade would have given an out-of-date character to much of the subject-matter. It is more especially in regard to the Ferns and the extinct members of the Gymnosperms that our outlook has been materially altered by recent contributions to Palaeobotany.