On the Occurrence of Spores of Plants in the Lower Limestone 
Shales of the Forest of Dean Coalfield, and in the Black 
Shales of Ohio, United States. By Epwarp WETHERED, 
EGS. Ee: 
Last year I had the honour of communicating to this Club 
some observations on the Lower Carboniferous Rocks of the 
Forest of Dean.* In that Paper I showed that the Devonian 
Period was brought to a close by a change of conditions which 
caused a remarkable series of many coloured sandy beds and 
shales to be deposited, and that these gradually passed up into 
shales and limestone. I further showed that in parts of Scotland. 
there were similar beds, though of greater thickness, which 
are known as the Calciferous Series; and I ventured to suggest 
that the strata which rests on the Old Red Conglomerate, and 
extends up to the base of the Mountain Limestone in the 
Forest of Dean, were the equivalents in time of the Scotch 
beds. There was, however, one physical feature wanting in 
our own district; it was the occurrencet of seams of coal and 
bituminous shales in the upper portion of the Calciferous Series 
of Scotland. 
During the examination of the argillaceous bed at the bottom 
of the Lower Limestone Shales in the Forest of Dean, to which 
I gave the name of “ Rhynchonella pleurodon bed,” I noticed 
some small yellow discs, the largest of which measured about 
‘006 of an inch in diameter. As to what these objects were, I 
was for a time only able to suggest their being the spores of 
plants. Some time after the discovery, Dr Dawson F.R.S., of 
Montreal, was kind enough to show me some spores which 
* “Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc.,” Vol. XX XIX, p. 211. 
+ This feature, however, is confined to certain districts. 
a 
