28 Notices of Memoirs — Carboniferous Flora at Gullane. 



NOTICES OIF" 3VLE3yEOIE.S. 



I. — Hefort ok the Committee for investigating the Lower 

 Carboniferous Flora at Gullane. 1 



Consisting of Dr. E. Kidston (Chairman), Dr. W. T. Gordon (Secretary)^ 

 Dr. J. S. Flett, Professor E. J. Garwood, Dr. J. Home, and Dr. B. N. 

 Peach. 



A]S"EW discovery of petrified plant-remains was made, in 1914, 

 at a point below high-water mark near Gullane, Haddingtonshire. 

 The place could only be reached at certain states of the tide. In 

 order to accelerate collecting, blasting operations were proposed, and 

 a grant voted at last meeting of the Association to meet the expenses. 

 The locality, however, lies within the area of the Forth Estuary, 

 and, although the military and police authorities readily gave per- 

 mission to blast on the foreshore, it was considered inadvisable to act 

 on that permission meanwhile. JS"o part of the grant was used 

 therefore, but sufficient material has been collected to amplify 

 considerably the data already obtained. Some 150 thin sections 

 of the material have been prepared and examined. 



The flora represented in these sections is as follows : — 



Lepidodendron veltheimianum, Bensonites fusiformis, B. Scott. 



Stemb. Pitys jprimceva, Witham. 



Stigmaria ficoides, Stemb. Pitys dayii, sp. nov. 



Botryopteris (?) antiqua, Kidston. Pitys, sp. nov. 



Chief importance is attached to the specimens of Pitys, as so many 

 well-preserved specimens have never been obtained elsewhere. 

 Many of these examples had the bark preserved, while one of them 

 consisted of a branch tip still clothed with needle-like leaves. Much 

 light has been thrown on the stem structure of the genus, while the 

 details of the connexion of leaf and stem have also been determined. 



As regards the other plant types represented, it is interesting to 

 note the similarity between the whole assemblage and the flora of 

 the Pettycur Limestone at Pettycur, Fife. Indeed, the form 

 Bensonites fusiformis, B,. Scott, has not, so far, been recorded except 

 from Pettycur. Both Gullane and Pettycur lie on the Forth, and 

 the geological horizon of the rocks at both localities is not very 

 different, so that the similarity of the floras is not surprising. 



The specimens from Gullane occur in a greyish-white clastic rock, 

 which on examination proved to be a highly decomposed volcanic ash. 

 It is suggested that the decomposition of the ash, by vapours emitted 

 from the volcano during its activity, produced solutions of mineral 

 matter which caused the petrifaction of plant fragments included in 

 the ash. These plant fragments occur quite sporadically through the 

 rock, and they have evidently not been drifted in water. The 

 petrifying solutions have been both calcareous and siliceous, so that 

 some specimens are preserved in carbonate of lime, others in silica, 

 while a few are partly in the one and partly in the other. 



The perfection of the preservation is very striking, aud it is 

 proposed to continue collecting specimens when possible. 



1 Bead before the British Association, Section C (Geology), Newcastle, 1916. 



