Acting on a homogeneous material would give rise 

 not to an elevated plateau, but to a mountain 

 mass in which the mountains would be of the 

 same heig-ht and the valleys of the same depth. 

 About fifty-two slides were used, illustrating the 

 folding of the Alps ; the stupendous range of 

 the Himalayas ; the cheese-like figiu:e of the 

 Table Mountain ; the gi*and solitary cone of 

 Tenerifl'e ; the strange inaccessible Peter Botte of 



the Mauritius ; the active volcano of Vesuvius, 

 and the long extinct volcanic fissures and volcanic 

 necks of Scotland ; the mighty mystery of the 

 Mythen Mountains on the Lake of Liieeme, 

 which have been bodily moved from, no one 

 knows where, to their present position. The 

 lecture concluded ivith the ringed plains and 

 crater formed mountains of the moon as seen 

 through the magnificent Melboiu-ne telescope. 



RECENT DISCOVERIES IN FOSSIL PLANTS.*— By Mk. P. MORING. 



At a meeting held on February 26, 1903, a 

 lecture was given by P. Moring, Esq., in the course 

 of which he said : 



On the shelves of the library of the Dover 

 Sciences Society there is a little book, and inscribed 

 upon the fly sheet opposite the title page is 

 \vritten : — " Presented to the Dover Sciences 

 Society by the executors of Dr. Williamson, at 

 the wish of his wife that a copy of this work 

 should find a place in all libraries of Natiu*al 

 History Societies throughout the Kingdom." 

 The title is " Reminiscences of a Yorkshire 

 Naturalist," by the Lite William Crawford 

 Williamson, L.D L., F.R.S., Professor of Botany in 

 Owen's College, Manchester ; edited by his wife. 

 In it he gives a sketch of his life, the writing of 

 whiuh was one of the pleasiu-es of Dr. Williamson's 

 lat^sr years. It is a very interesting autobiography ; 

 how from a young man he was profoundly 

 interested in general natural history, and fossil 

 botany in particular. 



Some years ago, while in Manchester during a 

 considerable period, opportunity permitted me to 

 visit, in the intervals of business, the museum of 

 Ou'en's College (now Manchester University). 

 In this well-organised museum there is a splendid 

 collection of fossil plants, many having been 

 collected and described by Dr. Williamson. There 

 are also distributed in other museums many of 

 his specimens. The rock and fossil plant sections 

 of the Cash collections are also at Manchester. 



It was during these visits that I came in contact 

 with Prof. Boyd Dawkins, then of the chair of 

 geology, and other professors, who on certain 

 days would give lectures, short addresses and 

 descriptions of the objects of museums, and 

 especially of the specimens in the collections. It 

 was through these addi-esses I learned my 

 elementary palaio-botany. 



Reading Dr. Williamson's book recalled my 

 Manchester days, and it may be opportune to 

 di-aw your attention to some recent facts in fossil 

 botany, particularly as in the near future we are 

 likely to be in the centre of a coal mining district. 



It is a good practice in scientific work to re- 

 capitulate even elementary facts, for it enables 

 one to see things |from various aspects. I there- 

 fore call your attention to the general sequence of 

 geological strita with particular attention to the 

 Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian systems. 

 In the Carboniferous epoch, the period in which 

 there was luxuriant vegetation producing coal, the 



formation of the rocks show varied circumstances. 

 The Carboniferous system was of a marine type, 

 deposited first in a deep clear sea, afterwards with 

 alternations of shallower marine and brackish 

 conditions forming the great mass of the 

 carboniferous limestone. After which shallower 

 conditions prevailed, and sandstone, grit, etc., are 

 deposited with thin seams of coal and bands of 

 marine fossils, forming the uiillstone grit. Then 

 came the formation of the coal measures, a great 

 thickness of white, grey, and yellow sandstones 

 with clays, fire-clays, and shales, with coal- 

 bearing beds, and at the top sandstones, shales 

 and clays. Occasionally there are marine fossils, 

 but the conditions may be looked upon as of a 

 lagoon type. The Carboniferous rocks are of 

 enormous thickness. 



(A typical boring from the Kent Coalfield was 

 then described.) 



But plant remains are also found in the earlier 

 Devonian systems, and some records are also 

 given for the Silurian, especially of so-caUed 

 fucoid or seaweed remains. The latter are 

 perhaps somewhat doubtful, if they are plant 

 remains at all. 



There are many difficulties in the study of 

 fossil botany. In the first place anatomical and 

 histological knowledge is most essential, for very 

 often a small fragment of a part of some plant is 

 left, in fact in some cases the only remains are 

 impressions or casts with no internal struct\u*e 

 whatever. If the internal stiiicture happens to 

 be preserved by petrification, sections of these 

 can be cut, and very often the whole of the 

 internal structure is preserved, and, as in the 

 sections exhibited, the tiny wall structure ; also 

 in some cases the contents of imiividual cells can 

 he made out. 



But one has further to beware of i-efening 

 animal remains or inorganic substances to a 

 plant order, for as fossUs there may be much 

 resemblance, rill and worm tracks, bodies dragged 

 or pushed over the sand or mud, for example. 

 Again, the fallacy of resemblance to existing 

 plant forms. Several illustrations of resemblance 

 are shown where fern leaves and equisetums 

 may be taken for flowering plants, if examined in 

 their dried or partially decayed state. Analogy 

 such as this must be taken into account, and 

 reference to existing forms is not always to be 

 relied on. 



Let us tiu-n to a little recapitulation in botany. 



