36 



found at the depth of 20 feet, in the silt deposit which forms the southern bank 

 of the Wye, at Hereford, in digging a foundation for the Railway Bridge now in 

 progress, were also laid upon the table. Petrifaction not having taken place, and 

 their polished surfaces indicating that they still contain a considerable amount of 

 gelatine, these mammalian relics must be of comparatively recent date, probably 

 of the human epoch. 



Mr. Otte exhibited specimens of graptolites from a newly opened quarry at 

 Backbury Hill, in the Woolhope district, where the exuviae of that zoophyte had 

 never been previously observed. Having since visited the spot, I found them as 

 described by Mr. Otte in great abundance. They are of the species Graptolithus 

 ludensis, and are embedded in a finely compacted calcareo-argillaceous deposit of 

 Lower Ludlow shale, containing the remains of trilobites and the characteristic 

 testacea of the period . 



The day having thus been most agreeably spent, our Whitchurch Meeting 

 broke up at 7 o'clock p.m., the Members expressing a hope to meet and enjoy an 

 equally pleasant ramble over the geologically-famed rocks of Aymestrey. 



Postscript. — My attention has just been directed to a paper read by Professor 

 E. Forbes at the recent meeting of the British Association at Belfast, upon some 

 remarkable fossils quite new to geologists, discovered lately near Kilkenny, in 

 yellow sandstone of the Devonian epoch, They consist of the remains of ferns, 

 lepidodendra, &c., accompanied by fish, remains of Old Red types, and traces of 

 Crustacea. As no fossil plants of the kind had ever previously been detected in 

 British strata of such high antiquity, I allude to this interesting fact. They indi- 

 cate the proximity of land, and were probably embedded under estuary conditions. 



In this county I have frequently found small spherical organisms, or car- 

 bonaceous pellicles, which, under the microscope, reveal structure of a peculiar 

 kind, and which, without venturing too confident an opinion, I think will prove 

 upon closer inspection, to be seeds or pericarps of land plants. 



In company with Mr. Strickland, I lately found them abundant in Cornstones 

 used for repairing the roads near Monmouth Cap, associated with other car- 

 bonaceous markings, and with the remains of the Cephalaspis. We are informed 

 that these Cornstones were quarried near Llanfihangel. 



I have also met with similar pellicles in the Silurian rocks where sea-weeds, 

 especially fucoids (which constitute the earliest forms of vegetation on our planet) 

 have alone hitherto been found to represent the vegetable kingdom. 



The specimens on the table are from the Ludlow fish-bed of Hagley Park 

 quarry, where the ripple marks seem to indicate a beach. The fish-bed is mixed 

 up with a thin layer of vegetable matter, converted into coal. I have observed 

 pellicles of the same age at Prior's Frome, and I learn from Mr. Strickland that 

 he has discovered them in the very same stratum at Garaage Ford. 



In the hope that, by following up these researches in other parts of the 

 country, additional light may be thrown on the subject through the collection of 



