Miscellaneous. 379 



ribs scattered among them. We think these also probably be- 

 long to Loxomma. There are fourteen or fifteen vertebrae ; 

 but, unfortunately, little can be made out respecting them 

 except the form and character of the bodies, the processes of 

 which are not determinable, though they seem mixed up with 

 the matrix, which is partly composed of iron-pyrites. 



The largest vertebra3 are about seven-eighths of an inch 

 wide, and five-eighths of an inch long ; they are slightly hol- 

 lowed at the ends, with the margins a little reflected ; there is 

 a minute notochordal foramen in the centre ; but this is not 

 always visible ; and the sides are hollowed or channelled, but 

 do not exhibit much striation. 



The ribs are peculiar in form ; they are about iive inches 

 long, but we cannot be certain that they are entire ; the shaft 

 is three-eighths of an inch wide, and is not much compressed; 

 nor do they exhibit the longitudinal groove so usual in the 

 ribs of these Amphibians. The proximal extremity is ex- 

 ceedingly wide, measuring across seven-eighths of an inch ; 

 it is much compressed ; but the capitular margin is thick and 

 continues the curve of the shaft ; it projects a little beyond 

 the tuberculum, and is divided from it by a very shallow 

 notch ; the bifurcation is consequently exceedingly shallow. 

 The tubercular process turns suddenly from the shaft, and, 

 though thin, widens out into a large concave articular sur- 

 face, much larger than that of the capitulum. 



There is, of course, no certainty that these vertebrse and 

 ribs are really those of Loxomma ; but, from their occurring in 

 the same locality and about the same time as the cranium, we 

 may infer that it and they came from the same part of the 

 seam ; hence the probability that they belonged to the same 

 animal ; and, moreover, the ribs ditfer considerably from those 

 of Anthracosaurus and Pteroplax, the only other large Laby- 

 rinthodonts that have yet been found in the Newcastle coal- 

 field. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The Male Prothall'mm of tlie Vascular Cryptogamia. 



By A. MiLLARDET. 



OrR knowledge of the true nature of the functions of reproduc- 

 tion in plants is much less advanced than that of the functions of 

 nutrition. Every work upon the former subjects therefore possesses 

 great interest, especially if the author, as in the present case, rises 

 to general considerations, and does not confine himself to the more 

 or less minute description of certain organs. From this point of 

 view the title of M. Millardet's memoir is too modest. After de- 



