62 REPORT — 1853. 



On a singular Fault in the Southern Termination of the Warwickshire 



Coal-field. By Charles Twamley, F.G.S. 

 This narrow coal-field is described as extending from Polesworth, near Taraworth, 

 to Sow, three miles east of Coventry. At the Victoria Colliery, near Bedworth, the 

 coal-seams lie nearly together, with very thin partings, and measure from 8 to 10 

 yards. At Polesworth the seams are widely separated, forming, with the interposed 

 strata, a thickness of more than 70 yards. The fault described is in the Victoria 

 Colliery ; the coal lies at the depth of 225 yards, dipping S.W., 12 inches in the 

 yard. In driving a gate-road southerly a fault occurred, the coal-seams being cut 

 off in succession ; the top one disappearing first, and the bottom one last. The road 

 was continued on a level, through fractured rocky shale containing coal fossils, for 

 about 120 yards, when the coal-seams were again met with, in the same order in 

 which they disappeared : the bottom one first occurring and the top one last ; but 

 the dip had increased from 12 to 20 inches in the yard. The interval in the top coal 

 was 180 yards wide; in the bottom coal 120 yards, and in a band of ironstone 

 below the coal 80 yards. The level at which the coal reappears is 22 yards higher 

 than it would have been but for the fault. A headway was driven upwards 60 

 yards, and a shaft sunk downwards 40 yards in the shale, without finding a trace 

 of coal. The fault has an irregular N.W. and S.E. course at right angles to the 

 dip of the beds. 



BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 



Botany. 



On the Structure of the Endochrome in Conferva Linum. 

 By Professor Allman, M.D., M.R.I. A. 



The cells of this plant are filled with a deep green endochrome, which when 

 liberated from the cell and examined under a power of about 150 linear, is found to 

 be composed of exceedingly delicate utricles, filled with homogeneous green matter 

 which surrounds a central nucleus-like body. The form of this body is peculiar, 

 being that of a more or less circular disc, with a thickened ring-like margin, and 

 generally bent irregularly on itself. lodme, by turning it blue, proves it to be a 

 starch-granule. In one or two instances, the endochrome-utricles were found after 

 the application of iodine, with their green contents contracted towards one side, and 

 the starch-granule lying free in the otherwise empty portion of the utricle. In some 

 cases two or three starch-granules were found in a single utricle. 



It frequently happens that the utricles become ruptured, probably by the endos- 

 mose of water, or by the actual solution of their very delicate walls, and thus liberate 

 their contents ; the starch-granules were then seen to float away perfectly free upon 

 the field of the microscope. In none of the utricles could any true nucleus be 

 detected. 



Besides the simple utricles with their green contents and starch -granules, others 

 were not unfrequently met with of a larger size, and filled with a brood of smaller 

 Utricles, exactly similar to those just described ; like them filled with homogeneous 

 green contents, and containing a nucleus-like starch-granule. 



It is thus proved, — 1. That the green matter in Confei-va Linum is immediately 

 contained in distinct cells or utricles. 2. That it surrounds in each utricle a, pecu- 

 liarly formed starch-granule. 3. That these utricles are themselves the product 

 of parent utricles, in whose cavity they are formed ; the endochrome of Conferva 

 Linum thus possessing an independent organization by which it is enabled to mul- " 



tiply itself within the filament. 



On the Utricular Structure of the Endochrome, a Species of Conferva. 

 By Professor Allman, M.D., M.R.I.A. 



The plant which constituted the subject of the communication, is closely allied to 

 Conferva linum, and the author showed that the deep green endochrome, when libe- 

 rated from the cell, is seen to possess a very definite utricular structure. Each utriols 

 is filled with homogeneous green matter, which surrounds one or more peculiarly 



