78 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



besides niobic and tungstic acids, oxide of uranium and protoxide of 

 iron. 



Many of the specimens of samarsklte are mixed with columbite, 

 the crystalline form of which is such as it has been described by M. 

 Hermann. 



The columbite of Siberia has been examined by M. Th. Bromeis : 

 the acid which it contains is niobic acid nearly pure, with mere traces 

 of pelopic and tungstic acids. — Jottrn. de Ch. etde PhyL, Nov. 1847. 



ON THE FOSSIL VEGETATION OF ANTHRACITE COAL. 



Mr. J. E. Teschemacher, at the recent meeting of the American 

 Association of Geologists and Naturalists, read a paper on this sub- 

 ject, confining his observations to the remains of vegetation found 

 In the body of the coal, apart from that in the accompanying shales. 

 The principal points of the memoir were, that the remains of the 

 larger forms of the coal epoch, as well as of the smaller plants, were 

 abundant In the coal, contrary to the usual opinion. Specimens 

 were exhibited from the Interior of the coal, showing the extei'nal 

 and Internal parts of plants — the vessels, the leaves, the seeds, &c. 



Since the meeting, Mr. Teschemacher has continued his investi- 

 gations, and has communicated In a letter to one of the editors the 

 following results : — 



1st. What I considered as vessels were said to be mere marks of 

 sliding of the coal. Prof. Bailey prepared a specimen of this by bis 

 method, and told me that If I found vessels there, my proposition was 

 correct. Examined by Agassiz and myself, with his large Oberhauser, 

 it turns out to be Jiothing but a 7nass of perforated vessels, as clear 

 and distinct as If they were recent. M. Agassiz observed, "One 

 moment suffices to remove every doubt on the subject." 



2nd. What I considered as fossil seeds were said to be mere pea- 

 cock-eye coal ; the dark carbonaceous centres of these seeds, which 

 I held to be carbonized cellular matter, was thought to be a mere 

 mistake and the seeds Imaginary. I have since discovered them 

 with distinct and clear apparently spinous appendages. M. Agassiz 

 thinks the seed a Samara, and I have found sufhclent quantit}' to 

 pick out the carbonaceous matter from the interior with a tine needle 

 — decarbonize It in a clean platina crucible over a spirit-lamp, with 

 every possible precaution to prevent any foreign substance mixing 

 therewith. On examining this with the Oberhauser, 700 diameters, 

 M. Agassiz showed to Dr. Gould and myself the cells as clear and 

 plain as possible ; it Is a mass of cellular matter, as I stated. You 

 may of course Imagine the extreme tenuity of the parletes of cells 

 of seeds when decarbonized, and the difficultj' of those less experi- 

 enced thanlM. Agassiz in the microscope In managing the subject — 

 he feels quite convinced of their being fossil seeds. The nature of the 

 genus of plants must require further examination. 



3rd. The smooth glossy surfaces, which I considered the external 

 parts of large plants rendered smooth by intense pressure, were said 

 to be nothing more than slickens Ides. My position here is proved 

 much more easily than in the other cases, by specimens passing gra- 

 dually from the smoother through diflferent degrees of protuberance 



