British Association. 125 
innumerable in the Kimmeridge clay, lived, like recent oysters, upon 
infusoria ; and consequently the conclusion is unavoidable, that the 
Kimmeridge clay, like the chalk, contains a considerable per-centage 
of these minute and indestructible bodies which the microscope His- 
covers in it, and,is not the mere comminuted detritus of more an- 
cient and unorganized materials. With these facts established, we 
may still further conclude from analogy, that a similar ciliary appa- 
ratus and similar infusorial food were common to the still earlier 
bivalyes.in the seas of the transition formation; and we may then 
ask,—what right have we, in the absence of a careful microscopic 
examination of still earlier rocks, to deny the possibility of any por- 
tion of their mass being due to the agency of siliceous infusoria ? 
June 20.—The Rey. L. Jenyns read a paper ‘‘ On the Turf of the 
Cambridgeshire Fens.” 
This turf was not formed by sphagnum, as most peat, but from 
various species of aquatic plants which had been accumulated for a 
long period of years above the remains of forest trees which lie 
buried at the bottom of the moor. There are two distinct kinds of 
turf, the wpper and the lower. The former is the more compact and 
heavy of the two; the latter consists entirely of the bark, wood 
and branches of the submerged trees. The turf is not now rapidly 
formed, on account of the improved system of drainage. [ormerly 
it was supposed to grow about twenty inches in sixteen years. 
Sir R. Schomburgk read a description of the Murichi, or Ita Palm 
of Guiana. ‘This tree grows from the Llanos of Cumana to the 
western tributaries of the Rio Negro and the mouth of the Amazon, 
or over an area of 550,000 square miles. It was called by Father 
Gumilla the arbol de la vida, or tree of life, on account of its various 
uses. It is of the greatest importance to the inhabitants of the 
country in which it grows. The trunk and its leaves are used for 
various household purposes. ‘he sap is a saccharine fluid, much 
drunk by the natives. The flowers afford a sweet fermentable liquid, 
resembling champagne. ‘The pith of its trunk affords a kind of sago. 
Even in its decay this palm is of use, and affords a delicacy to the 
Indians, which likewise many colonists do not refuse, namely, the 
larva of a large beetle. The Curculio palmarum is found in large 
numbers in the pith when the trunk is near its decay, and which, 
when boiled or roasted, resembles in taste the marrow of a beef bone, 
Its average height is about fifty feet, and it has been observed grow- 
ing at a height of 3000 to 4000 feet above the level of the sea. 
Prof. Allman laid before the Section a monstrosity occurring in 
Savifraga Geum. The three external verticels of the flowers were 
normal, but between the stamens and pistil there was developed a 
series of adventitious carpels crowded upon the margin of a cup-like 
production which surrounds the lower half of the pistil. These ad- 
ventitious carpels were characterized by their backs being turned 
towards the axis of the flower. ‘The carpels bear ovules on their 
margins, which acquired a very considerable degree of development, 
becoming completely anatropous, like those in the normal ovary. 
Dr. Allman explained this monstrosity by supposing the existence of 
