Miscellaneous. 231 



The structure of these layers, as seen in the longitudinal sections, 

 is identical with, though less complex than, that of the matured 

 stems ; but no cortical vascular bundles are seen iu them. 



Having identified his Dictijoxtjlon Oldhamimn with the older genus 

 Lyginodendron^ the author abandons his own generic name, and 

 proposes that the plant shall lieneeforth be designated Lyginodendron 

 Oldhamiiuii. Ho ('stal)lishes in tlie same way the generic identity 

 of Dicti/oA-i/lon Grievli with the Jleteraru/ium .of Corda ; hence that 

 plant must now talte the name of Heterangium Orievii. Whilst 

 having no doubt that the above were two Cryptogamic plants, it 

 appears impossible for the present to determine to what class of 

 Cryjjtogams they belong. Many of their features indicate Lycopo- 

 diaceous affinities ; but this point can scarcely be determined until 

 the actual fronds are discovered. This has not yet been done. 

 The Lijiiiiiodcadron is from the horizon of the Ganister beds of 

 Lancashire and Yorkshii'e ; the Burntisland deposit belongs to the 

 middle portion of the calciferous sandstones of the Burdiehouse 

 Carboniferous strata. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On Whales in the Indian Ocean. By H. J. Cakter, F.R.S. &c. 



(In a letter to Dr. J. E. GRAY,r.R.S.) 



I HAVE been much interested in the perusal of your paper in the 

 'Annals' for February " Ou the Geographical Distribution &c. of 

 Whales and Dolphins ; " and, with reference to Captain Maury's 

 observation that the sperm-whales inhabit a belt of sea in or on 

 each side of the tropics, would communicate to you the following 

 facts, which, if not already known to you, will, I am sure, be 

 acceptable. 



Within twelve years, while I was at Bombay, the mutilated car- 

 casses of two dead whales drifted on shore there. One I went to 

 see : it was an ernormous mass, and sujiposed to have belonged 

 to a whale 80 feet long. The bodies of the vertebrae were as large, 

 I think, as the bodies of any whale-vertebroe that I ever saw. Not 

 being interested in any further detail, and the stench of the putrid 

 blubber being so great that it was full a month before it left my 

 shoes, I went no further than to witness the sight. 



It is very common for whales to be seen off the coast of Khat- 

 tyawar, a little north of Bombay, but stiU in the tropics, by those 

 M'ho are making the voyage between Bombay and Kurrachee, in 

 Sind. And if at Bombay, within the space of twelve years, two 

 dead whales drift in, it may be assumed that such must occur at 

 many other places on this coast, and therefore that the number of 

 dead whides which thus become stranded must be considerable. 



While on the survey of the south-east coast of Arabia (that is, 

 the northern boundary to the Indian Ocean), for two years wc never 



