MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 305 
which was the only fossil Pandanaceous fruit known, and approached 
nearer to the structure belonging to the recent family, and more espe- 
cially to the section of the genus Pandanus, which had single-seeded 
drupes. 
Carboniferous Fossil Trees embedded in Trappean Ash 
in the Isle of Arran. By E. A. Wiinsch. 
The beds in which these occur have hitherto been classified as trap- 
dykes or eruptive sheets of trap-rock, but a summer's residence in the 
island has enabled Mr. Wiinsch to discover the true character of the 
rocks. The beds referred to extend in a north-easterly direction, at an 
angle of about 37° from high-water mark, down to low-water mark, 
and doubtless to some distance below it, with the stems of trees em- 
bedded at right angles to the plane of stratification, having retained 
the original position in which they grew, and having subsequently been 
upheaved on the flanks of the granitic nucleus of the island. As many 
as twelve or fourteen trunks have been observed on different occasions, 
and within a circumscribed area. The stems of the trees are perfectly 
cylindrical, from 15 to 20 inches diameter, with their roots extending 
down into the subsoil ; one of them, a Sigillaria, must have been a 
hollow cylinder, through the interior of which several vigorous young 
shoots had made their way at the time it was suddenly buried by a 
shower of ash. Another tree must have been perfectly hollow, filled 
up with debris of vegetables and with cones. Mr. Binney, of Man- 
chester, who has undertaken to make a more minute examination of the 
plants, has found specimens of Sigillaria, Ilalloula, Lepidodendron, and 
a species as yet undescribed. The ash itself is very much indurated, 
having, in fact, almost the appearance and hardness of ordinary trap- 
roek. So far as known, the trees referred to are the only instances of 
carboniferous trees preserving both their original outline and position, 
and their internal structure. 
Exploration of the Plant-beds of North Greenland. 
The Secretary read the preliminary report of the " Committee for 
the Exploration of the Plant-beds of North Greenland, appointed at 
the Nottingham meeting in 1S66." The report was as follows:— 
" Mr. Whvmpcr, one of the members of the Committee, having made 
