FOSSILS 



13 



Co7ich4sion 



One tentative remark may perhaps be hazarded. The form dredged from the Weddell Sea appears 

 to belong amongst a group of genera, some of which are imperfectly known, which are characteristic 

 of rocks of a late Palaeozoic age, Carboniferous and Permian. If the above view be correct, it would 

 point to the interesting conclusion that strata of similar age must outcrop near by. The outcrop may 

 be on the sea floor, but as the two stations are at no great distance from the Antarctic coast-line it is 

 more likely that they have been carried to their position by ice action. 



01 02 03 04' o-SiTiTn. 



_j I I I I 



Fig. I. Figures of ? Monogenerina sp. from the Weddell Sea, 

 drawn from the individual specimens. 



a, side view. c, edge view. 



b, oral-end view. d, aboral-end view. 



At St. 312, in 1956 fathoms to the south-east of the South Orkneys, a few pyritized 

 diatoms and Radiolaria were observed. They resemble those to be found in the London 

 Clay and other Tertiary deposits, but in view of the great distance of this station from 

 the Antarctic coast-line, I hesitate to accept them as fossils. Recent Radiolaria are 

 frequent and diatoms rare at this station, so the specimens may be of recent origin, 

 altered by some chemical reaction. 



MINERALS 



Some interesting crystalline components observed in the deposits have been dealt 

 with by Mr F. A. Bannister and Mr M. H. Hey in a Report appended, see pp. 60 et seq. 



The "envelope" crystals, as will be seen, are composed of hydrated calcium oxalate 

 and were observed at several stations besides St. 286, where they were first noticed. 



