PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 365 



tion and Affinities of the Calamites of tlie Coal Measures." The structure of 

 a Calamite stem of considerable diameter, but consisting of only a delicate 

 cylinder of mixed tissue was minutely described. It was composed of parallel 

 bundles of scalariform vessels, every wliere penetrated by minute medullary rays, 

 and separated by large tracts of medullary tissue. A third set of medullary 

 structures occurring at the nodes was also described. The phragmas seen on the 

 sides of some stems, the author held to be the scars of roots. He entered on 

 the affinities of these fossils as indicated by their stems, and proposed to sepa- 

 rate them from Equisetacece as a distinct Order, Calamitacea. Mr. Carrutliers 

 doubted whether systematic determinations based on stem-structure were of 

 value. He preferi-ed the evidence derived from the fruit, and that he had 

 shown to be very near to that of the living Equisetmn. The various points of 

 difference pomted out by the author he considered to depend upon the more 

 highly organized vegetative portions of the plants. Mr. Bentliam insisted on 

 the value of fruit characters in determining systematic position, and urged the 

 desirability of employing subgeneric names for imperfectly determined forms. 



September \QtJi. — W. Carrutliers, " On the History and Affinities of the 

 British ConifercB." Having pointed out the characters of the great divisions 

 of this Order, the author traced their ajDpearance and development in the 

 stratified rocks. The Araucariece, repj-esented by sixteen living species, natives 

 of the southern hemisphere, made their appearance in carboniferous rocks, 

 where eight species at least had been determined from the structure of the 

 wood. Cones belonging to six species were known from secondary rocks, belong- 

 ing to the section Eutacta of Arauearia. Tlie Finece, a group almost confined 

 to the northern hemisphere, and having a single indigenous species, appeared in 

 the old red sandstone ; a second species was known in the coal, and cones, leaves, 

 and stems were abundant in Secondary and Tertiary strata. The TaxodiecB, 

 now represented by fifteen species, natives of the northern shores of the Pacific, 

 . appeared in the Secondary rocks, among them were several species of Sequoia 

 from Cretaceous and Eocene strata. The Cupressece, of which the British 

 Juniper was a member, was known from Tertiary beds only. The Taxinete, 

 containing nearly a hundred species, found all over the world, had been detected 

 in Carboniferous strata, in a not unfrequent fruit, and by several species of 

 fruits in the Eocene deposits of Sheppey. 



SeptemherVdth. — I.: W. Carrutliers, "Note on Specimens oi AntJiolithes io\xnA 

 by C. W. Peach, Esq." These fossils exhibited specimens of fruits known as 

 Cardiocarpa, organically attached to the long filaments which had been figured 

 as proceeding from the buds of AntJiolithes, and supplied data from wliich the 

 author hoped to determine the systematic position of this remarkable fossil. II. : 

 W. CaiTuthers, " On the Sporangia of Ferns from the Coal Measures." These 

 specimens occur in the Coal-balls from the coal of Bradford. They exhibited 

 the structure, form, and attachment of sporangia of some recent Hyiuenophyl- 

 laceous genera. 



September 2\st. — W. Carrutliers, " Remarks on the Fossils from the Railway 

 Section at Uuyton." These cuttings supplied a limited number of spocies, 

 and consequently alfordod tlie means of correlating the diU'crent parts with 



