92 On Spore-eases in Coah. 



latter may be seen to enclose patches of flocculent or granular matter. 

 In the shale containing them there are also vast numbers of rounded 

 translucent granules which may be the escaped spores. 



The bed at Kettle Point is stated in the report of the Geological 

 Survey to be 12 to 14 feet in thickness ; but to what degree either 

 in its thickness or horizontal extent it retains the characters above 

 described, I do not know. It belongs to the Upper Devonian, being 

 supposed to be a representative of the Grenesee slates of New York. 

 It contains stems of Calamites inornatus and of a Leindodendron, 

 obscurely preserved, but apparently of the type of L. Veltheimianum, 

 and possibly the same with L. 'primsevwri of Kogers. The spore- 

 cases are not improbably those of this plant, or of the species 

 L. Gaspianum, which belongs to the same horizon, though not found 

 at this locality. The occurrence of this bed is a remarkable evidence 

 of the abundance of Lycopodiaceous trees, whose spores must have 

 drifted in immense quantities in the winds, to form such a bed. It 

 is to be observed, however, that this is not a bed of coal, but a bitu- 

 minous shale of brown colour, and with pale streak, no doubt ac- 

 cumulated in water, and even marine, since it contains Sinro]plMjton* 

 and shells of LinguJa. In this it agrees with the Australian Tas- 

 manite, which, though composed in great part of spore-cases of 

 ferns, is, as I am informed by Mr. Selwyn, an aqueous deposit, 

 containing marine shells. 



There is, however, one bed of true coal known in the Devonian 

 of Eastern America, that of Tar Point, Gaspe, and it is cmious to 

 observe that this is not composed of spore- cases, but of successive 

 thin layers of rhizomata and stems of Psilophijton, with occasional 

 fragments of Lepidodendron and Cyclostigma. Eounded disks, 

 which may be spore-cases, occur in it, but very rarely. In the 

 bituminous shales associated with this coal the microscope shows 

 amber-coloured flakes of irregular form, but these are easily ascer- 

 tained to be portions of the epidermis of Psilophyton, or of the 

 chitinous crusts of crustaceans which abound in these beds. 



Ascending to the Lower Carboniferous (sub-carboniferous), there 

 are great quantities of rounded spore-cases of the size of mustard 

 seeds {Sporangites glabra of my papers) in the rocks of Horton 

 Bluff and Lower Horton, Nova Scotia. They are sometimes glo- 

 bular, and filled with pyrite of a granular texture which perhaps 

 represents the original cellular structure or the microspores. In 

 other cases they are flattened and constitute thin carbonaceous layers. 

 They are almost without doubt the spore-cases of Lepidodendron 

 eorrugatum, which abounds in the same beds, and constitutes in one 

 place a forest of erect stumps. I described them in a paper " On 

 the Lower Carboniferous of Nova Scotia," in the ' Proceedings of the 

 Geological Society of London ' for 1858, though not then aware of 



* Tile woll-known ('avilii-(j(i/li fucoid. 



