96 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



of this nature, in my collection, have not enabled me to connect 

 these hornblende layers with organic structure, nor to discover 

 any traces of Eozoon in the highly crystalline limestone. 



The result of my examinations of specimens of the limestone 

 containing serpentine from the quarries near Wunseidel, from 

 Thiersheim, and from between Hohenberg and the Steinberg, were 

 however more successful. Fragments of the rock from near 

 Hohenberg show irregular greenish stripes, which are made up of 

 parallel undulating laminae, or of elongated grains. This banded 

 ao-o-regate is a granular mixture of carbonate of lime, serpentine, 

 and a white mineral, insoluble in acids, which appears to be 

 a variety of hornblende. The grains of this aggregate have 

 generally a diameter of to millimeter. 



When examined in thin sections, the calcareous portions appear 

 for the most part sparry, and traversed by straight intersecting 

 lines, (PI. 1, fig. 7 «,) or divided into cellular spaces by small 

 irregular bands, which, after the surface is etched, are seen in 

 slight relief. The portions between these bands are granulated. 

 (fi°\ 7 h.) More compact calcareous portions are however met 

 with, and these are penetrated by delicate tufts of tubuli like 

 those of Eozoon, (fig. 7 c,) and are adherent to the serpentine 

 portions, which have nearly the same form as in the Eozoon 

 of Steinhag, but are far smaller, (fig. 7 d.) In decalcified 

 specimens, they are found to possess the 'same arched walls as the 

 Eozoon. Their breadth in the cross section is generally about one 

 tenth, and the diameter of the casts of the tubuli only about one 

 hundredth of a millimeter. These broader serpentine portions 

 are generally connected with an adjacent portion of lamellae, (also 

 composed of serpentine, or of a whitish mineral,) which are not 

 more than one-half their size, curiously curved, and presenting 

 highly arched and deeply incurved outlines, as may be seen in 

 decalcified specimens, (fig. 7 e.) The study of these structures 

 leaves no doubt that they are due to an organism belonging to the 

 same group as the Eozoon. In order however to distinguish this 

 distinctly smaller form of the primitive clay-slate series, with its 

 minute contorted chambers filled with serpentine, from the typical 

 Eozoon Ccmadense of the more ancient Laurentian system, it may 

 be designated as Eozoon Bavaricam. 



I have moreover subjected to microscopic examination a series 

 of specimens from the same limestone horizon in the Fichtelgebirge, 

 which, unlike those just described, showed no distinct foreign 



