FOUND IN COAL FROM FORDEL. 191 
kinds of plants, some of them cellular, have entered into the composition of coal. 
Believing Sigillarias and Stigmarias to have had a large amount of cellular tissue 
in their structure, we can understand that in coal formed from them this tissue 
may, in certain instances, remain more or less entire, while in other instances it 
may have been compressed in such a way as to obliterate or rupture the cell- 
cavities. Dotted vessels, moreover, are not so dense, nor so much thickened in 
their walls, as woody tissue, and hence, in many cases, pressure may have in like 
manner destroyed their characteristic appearance, and by the approximation of 
their walls have given rise to some of the so-called fibrous appearances in coal. 
Besides Sigillarias and Stigmarias, we also detect in the Fordel coal peculiar 
rounded organisms, which have the appearance of seeds (Plate II., figs. 12, 13). 
Dr FLEminG informs me, that similar bodies have been observed by him in coal, 
and that he exhibited them to Mr Wirnam about twenty years ago. They have 
also been seen by Dr Fiemine in Lochgelly and Arniston parrot, and in the coal 
at Boghead; and from having observed them in cherry, splint, and cannel coals, 
he is disposed to consider them as a somewhat common feature. I have seen 
them in coal from Miller-hill, near Dalkeith, as well as in the coal from Fife. 
They do not appear to have been fully described. The nearest approach to them is 
the Lycopodites, figured by Mr Mornis in the Appendix to Mr Prestwicu’s paper 
on the Geology of Coal-Brook Dale.* They appear to be certainly allied. to the 
fructification of the Lycopodiaceze of the present day, more particularly to that 
form of it which consists of two valves placed in apposition, and containing what 
is called Lycopode-powder, or minute cells having a yellow glistening aspect, in- 
terspersed sometimes with matter of a dark wine-colour. 
These seed-like bodies in Fordel coal (Plate IL. figs. 13, 14, 15), I therefore con- 
sider to be the sporangia or spore-cases of some plant allied to Lycopodium, per- 
haps Sigillaria. They are remarkably preserved in the coal, and occur in many 
instances in vast quantity. They have a rounded form,—their colour is dark 
brown, and they seem to be formed by two valves inclosing a cavity which is often 
filled with black carbonaceous matter (Plate IL., figs. 16, 18). In some specimens 
we remark one valve separated so as to expose a dark mass in the hollow of the 
other valve (Plate II., fig. 16), which is imbedded in the coal. At other times, 
when a section is made of the coal, these sporangia are cut across, and exhibit an 
_ evident cavity (Plate IL, figs. 17,18). When thin sections of the coal are viewed 
by transmittted light, the walls of the sporangia appear of a brownish or orange- 
yellow colour (Plate II., fig. 14). 
Under the microscope, the valves often present a reticulated appearance, and 
minute granular matter seems to be attached to the inner surface. These granules 
I suppose to be some of the minute powdery spores slightly altered. It may be 
* Geological Transactions, v., p. 485. Plate 38, fig. 9. 
VOL. XXI. PART I. oF 
