Show Cycads Were Prominent Millions of Years Ago Cycads are arc members of an tn ancient family far more numerous in past ages ll es Fossil species are found In to Inmany Inmany many lands where they flourished as fiS the dominant plant life millions of years ago a o. o Botanists call II that era the Age e of or Cycads C cads Zoologists Ignoring I Inanimate InanImate inanimate mate life liCe record Cord It as the Age t ol oi Reptiles And It Is shown as the lat lat- latter latter latter ter In all nIl geological charts notes a writer In the Los Angeles Times This era In the worlds world's history I Is named the MesozoIc a Greek word meaning middle The earliest period pe pe- period perIod of this era termed the Creta Creta- Cretaceous Cretaceous Cretaceous was fourth In what Is called the ages of or life Invertebrates fishes am am- amphibians reptiles and mammals man appearing In the latter part of the mam- mam m mammal m. m mal phase following the Glacial or Ice age The fourth one age of or reptiles and cycads Immediately preceded the theone theone theone one where Australia existed must as asIt asIt asIt It Is today with her kangaroos cycads cy cy- cads and Since that time tree ferns have de de- developed developed developed In n other oilier tropical lands cycads In tropics and subtropics but no other types of kangaroos have appeared and only one other animal of or the same family the American opossum Simul SImul- Simultaneously SImultaneously Simultaneously with the latter la doubtless came the American cycads of which there are about 30 36 species These are rather widely distributed over the trop trop- tropical tropIcal tropical ical and subtropical parts of or the West West- Western Western Western ern hemisphere |