330 



PALEONTOLOGY. 



3. PLANTS. 



Areitio t Laeringa, Alf. de. Enumeracion de las Plantas fosiles 

 Espanolas. An. Sec. Espan. Hist. Nat. vol. iii. pt. 2. 



Gives a list of 110 species found in the formations of Spain, and 

 classified according to the system of Schimper's ' Traite de Paleontologie 

 vegetale.' J. M'P. 



Balfour, Prof. J. H. Remarks on the Fossils exhibited by Mr. Peach 

 which seem to belong to Staphylopteris^ Lesq. Trans. Bot. Soc. 

 Edin. vol. xii. p. .176. 



Refers Mr. Peach's branching fossils with flower-like forms to this 

 genus, and suggests that, if new, it should bear Mr. Peach's name. 



BiNNET, E. W. Note on the Medullosa elegans of Cotta. Mem. Lit. 



& Phil. Soc. Manchester, vol. xiii. p. 99. 

 In 1872 the author stated he believed this fossil, which occurs in the 

 Upper Brooksbottom Coal of Lancashire, to be the rachis of a fern. 

 The name has been changed by Brongniart to Myeloccylon, and again by 

 Renault to Myelopteris. There are two species, M. radiata and M. 

 Landriotti. M. Grand'Eury refers these forms to the Neuropteridece. 



C. E. De R. 



. A few Observations on Coal. Mem. Lit. & Phil. Soc. Man- 



chester, vol. xiii. p. 125. 

 In splint and hard coals macrospores are nearly always in abundance ; 

 in cannel coals they are sometimes associated with cellular and scalari- 

 form portions of plants ; in soft coals the mother coal generally shows 

 plenty of structure. In Boghead coal little trace of vegetable tissues is 

 seen under the microscope ; nevertheless its yield of paraffin and 

 paraffin oil is larger than in ordinary coals. Erom the presence of a 

 yellovnish-brown substance, like crude paraffin, in the microspores of 

 the upper sporangia of Lejpidostrohus Harcourtii he was led to believe 

 that the yellow matter seen in the vesicles of the Boghead coal of 

 Bathgate was composed of paraffin, or a similar hydrocarbon. Yellow 

 coal from Eifeshire, with microspores, burnt with a brilliant flame and a 

 smell like burning Boghead coal, while splint coal, with macrospores 

 320 times as large as the microspores, burnt with an ordinary flame 

 and smell. In cannel coal yielding a brown streak- there is a great 

 excess of microspores, and portions of plants long macerated in water. 

 In caking coal there was probably a larger proportion of bark; in 

 splint coal of macrospores. C. E. De R. 



. Note on MM. Renault and Grand'Eury's Memoirs on the 



Structure of Sigillaria spinulosa. Mem. Lit. & Phil. Soc. Man- 

 chester, vol. xiv. pp. 13-15. 



The absence of the medulla in Sigillaria and in its stigmarian roots is 



