442 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



developed. These normal leaves must not be confounded with the 

 needle- leaves, which are produced in the axils of the larger or 

 smaller normal leaves, either singly, in pairs, or in threes ; in youug 

 plants either singly or in pairs, in old plants usually in threes. 

 The single needles have a large central fibro-vaseular bundle and 

 well-marked sheath, surrounding a quantity of tissue belonging 

 to the fibro-vascular mass. The stoniata are placed in rows all 

 round the cylindrical leaf There are two resin-canals, and abun- 

 dance of hypoderm is developed between the rows of stomata. 

 The leaves in pairs are half-cylindrical, stomata on both surfaces, 

 and with a small fibro-vascular bundle in a mass of tissue, sur- 

 roiinded by a circular sheath. The hypoderm is well developed, 

 and there are two resin-canals in each needle. When in threes 

 the needles are triangular, with a double fibro-vascular bundle and 

 no resin-canals. The variation in the structure of the needles is 

 remarkable, and the production of large green normal leaves 

 seems to be a unique character, as yet quite overlooked by 

 botanists. 



20th February, 1879. 



The stated meeting of the Club appointed for the above even- 

 ing did not take place owing to the recent sudden and lamented 

 death, on 3rd inst., of one of the members, John Barker, M.D., 



r.E.c.s.i. 



20^7* March, 1879. 



Fossil Calcareous Alga and remarhs thereon. — Dr. E. Perceval 

 Wright exhibited specimens of Oymopolia rosarium, Lamr., and 

 Folytrypa elonyata, Detranc, side by side and called the attention 

 of the Club to the very important memoir of M. Munier-Chalmas, 

 " Sur les Algues calcaires appartenant au groupe des Dasycladees 

 Harv. et confodues avec les Eoraminiferes," which was published 

 in the 'Comptes reudus hebdomadaires of the French Academy of 

 Science ' for October 29th, 1877, and which opened up quite a 

 new or almost a new field of research, which has been followed 

 up by the same author in a note presented last month to the 

 Geological Society of France, " On the genus Ovulites." Though 

 regarded by some of the most eminent palseontologists as a 

 monothalamic Foraminifer related to Lagena, the genus Ovulites 

 is herein clearly demonstrated to be neither more nor less than an 

 articulation of a siphonaceous alga having very close affinities to 

 Penicillus. 



Ovulites margaritula is described by Messrs. Parker and Jones 

 " as a common Foraminifer of the ' Calcaire grossier.' Shaped 

 like an egg, and when full grown, about the size of a mustard- 

 seed, it is one of the most elegant of the fossil forms. The 

 large terminal apertures, moreover, curiously impress upon the 

 mind its resemblance to a ' blown ' bird's-egg. [Written in 



