On the occurrence of fossil forms of the Genus Chara in the Middle 
Purbeck Strata of Lulworth, Dorset, by Epwarp WETHERED, 
F.G.S., F.C.S., F.R.M.S. Read April 1st, 1890. 
1 
' Among the plants included in the group of Alge are those 
_ of the Characeew. They are described by Professor A. Nicholson 
and Mr Lydekker* as a “class comprising a number of fresh- 
_ water or brackish-water Algze, of a green colour, and remarkable 
for having lateral appendages corresponding with leaves. The 
thallus consists of a central stem giving off whorls of leaves at 
intervals, which in turn give off secondary leaflets.” The same 
authors state that fossil forms of the genus Chara occur in the 
Trias, Jurassic and Cretaceous formations, and are abundant in 
parts of the Tertiary series. Reference is also made to the 
& currence of the genus in the chert of the Purbeck formation. 
In Morrison’s catalogue of British Fossils, published in 
1854, (p. 4) the author mentions two species of Characee as 
occurring in Purbeck beds, in the Isle of Purbeck. The 
authority for the statement is Forbes, and the reference is 
“Records of the Geological Survey,” but the page and number 
_ of the volume is not. given. The reason of this omission is that 
the record of the finding of the fossils, and the descriptions, 
_ existed only in manuscript, and has never been published. I 
am also informed that the fossil specimens cannot be found. 
_In the summer of 1888, I collected Purbeck limestone from 
‘Lulworth Cove, Dorsetshire, and on making thin sections, I 
discovered numerous vegetable remains, some of which proved 
* Manual of Paleontology, Vol. 2, p. 1497, 1889. 
