219 



served a black carbonaceous mass below it ; and when a transverse 

 section is made of an entire sporangium in situ, the cavity between 

 the valves is often evidently seen. At one part of the sporangium a 

 stalk-like process is sometimes observed. These sporangia seem to 

 resemble much those organs of fructification in Lycopodiacese which 

 contain the small spores, commonly known as vegetable sulphur or 

 Ly copode powder, and it seems probable that the dark contents of 

 the Fordel sporangia may be the altered spores. 



Large spore-like bodies are also met with in coal, which may 

 perhaps be similar to the larger spores of Lycopods. It is by no 

 means improbable, the author thought, that the sporangia in the 

 Fordel and other coals may be the fructification of Sigillaria, — a 

 genus which occupies an intermediate position between Oycadacese 

 and Lycopodiaceae. The Fordel coal also contains abundance of the 

 inflammable resinous organic matter called Middletonite, which, ac- 

 cording to the author, may perhaps be in some way connected with 

 the sporangia just noticed. 



Specimens were shown of Fordel coal formed by Sigillarise and 

 Stigmariee, and of the same coal containing sporangia and Middle- 

 tonite, while the communication was illustrated by magnified drawings 

 of structure. 



The following Gentleman was elected an Ordinary Fel- 

 low: — 



Dr John Addington Symonds, of Clifton, BristoL 



Monday, 6th March 1854. 



Sir T. M. BRISBANE, Bart., President, in the Chair. 



The following Communications were read : — 



1. On the Impregnation of the Ova of the Salmonidae. By 

 John Davy, M.D., F.R.S. Lond. & Edin., Inspector- 

 General of Army Hospitals. 

 The author has been induced, he states, to make inquiry on this 

 subject, in consequence of a recent a\rerment, founded on a reported 

 experiment, that the ova of the trout taken from the abdomen of 

 the parent fish, and not afterwards mixed with the milt, have proved 

 prolific. 



He first gives an account of many trials made to test the accuracy 



