593 Geological Society. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



March lOth, 1915.— Dr. A. Smith AYoodward, E.R.S., President, 

 in the Chair, 



The following communications were read : — 



1. ' The Plants of the Late Glacial Deposits of the Lea Valley.' 

 By Clement Reid, F.R.S., F.L.S., V.P.G.S. 



Large collections of plants from the Lea Valley deposits, already 

 described, have been made by Mr. S. H. Wan-en, Mr. E. T. Newton, 

 and Mr. Wrigley. The localities from which the plants were ob- 

 tained are Angel Road, Hedge Lane, Ponders End, and Temple Mills. 

 A list from Ponders End has ah-eady been given by Dr. Lewis ; but 

 the new collections include many unrecoi'ded species, several of which 

 have not previously been noted as British fossils. Although there 

 are slight diifereuces, the collections from all four localities are so 

 siiuilar as to leave no doubt that the deposits are contemporaneous. 

 The whole assemblage points to a very cold climate, though perhaps 

 not quite so cold as that indicated by the Arctic plants found at 

 Hoxne, in Suifolk. 



Among the more interesting novelties may be mentioned Artneria 

 arctica, a species of thrift now confined to Arctic America, although 

 it has also been recorded as a Pleistocene fossil from the continent 

 of Europe by Dr. C. A. Weber. Leaves of Salix lapponum are also 

 abundant, though this species does not seem to have been found 

 fossil elsewhere. Some delicately - veined membranes, probably 

 identical with the * petal-like objects ' mentioned by Dr. Lewis, 

 prove to be pods of the alpine Draha incana. Other shorter forms 

 are pods of a scurvy-grass, not yet satisfactorily determined. 



The extinct forms are a new species of Silene, near to S. nocti- 

 jiora but quite distinct, and a new Linum with large seeds. 

 This latter apparently is closely allied to om* cultivated flax 

 (L. usitnfissimum), of which the origin is unknown. It may be 

 an ancestor of our common flax, but this latter is unknown far 

 noi-th, and will not grow with Arctic plants ; the seeds of the two 

 are perceptibly different. No large-seeded flax is now living in the 

 Aa-ctic regions. 



2. 'The Genus Lonsdahia and Dihunojiln/Uum rugosum 

 (McCoy).' By Stanley Smith, B.A., M.Sc, F.G.S. 



The present paper discusses the literatm-e, structural characters 

 and development, descent, classification, and distribution of the 

 corals constituting the genus Lonsdaleia ; it includes also a de- 

 scription of DihinophyJlum rugosum (McCo}^). The Author's 

 reasons for including a description of D. rugosum in the paper 

 are, first, the fact that the species was originally described by 

 McCoy as Lonsdaleia rugosa ; and, secondly, that considerable con- 

 fusion exists between it and the fasciculate foi-ras of Lonsdaleia. 



Lonsdideia is a compound member of the Clisiophyllidae, and 



