80 Reports and Proceedings. 



Chair. The following communications were read : — 1. " On the 

 Origin and Microscopic Structure of the so-called Eozoonal-Ser- 

 pentine." By Prof. W. King and Dr. T. H. Eowney. Communicated 

 by Sir E. I. Murchison, Bart., F.E.S., F.G.S. 



Taking the Grenville Eock as its type, " Eozoonal Serpentine " 

 was defined by the authors to consist essentially of variously formed 

 granules of Chrysotile, or some other allied mineral, imbedded in, or 

 intermixed with, Calcite. Although differing from the type in some 

 respects, the varieties of Serpentine which they have examined from 

 Connemara, Donegal, the Isle of Skye, India, Bavaria, and the State 

 of Delaware, are considered as belonging to the same section. The 

 Serpentine from Cornwall, the Isle of Anglesea, and Saxony, which 

 appears to be devoid of " Eozoonal " structure, they were disposed 

 to look upon, but with considerable doubt, as an eruptive rock. The 

 authors stated their conviction that every one of the presumed or- 

 ganic structures of " Eozoonal " Serpentine is purely and primarily 

 mineral or crystalline. The " skeleton " they held to be identical 

 with the calcareous matrix of certain minerals, notably Chondrodite, 

 Pargasite, etc. They adduced various considerations and evidence 

 to show that the "projier wall" cannot have resulted from 

 pseudopodial tubulation ; and, instead of being an independent 

 structure, in their opinion it is no more than the surface-portion of 

 the granules of Chrysotile crystallized into an asbestiform layer. 

 The dendritic and other forms, considered to represent the " canal 

 system," were shown to be tufts of Metaxite, or some other allied 

 variety of Chrysotile ; while the resemblance they bear to some 

 which are common in crystalline limestones, also their identity to 

 the imbedded crystallizations of native silver, moss agates, etc., and 

 the total dissimilarity between them and the foraminiferal structures 

 with which they have been homologued, are points which the authors 

 held to be conclusively fatal to the view which contends for such 

 forms being of organic origin ; in their opinion they are no more 

 than imbedded " imitative " crystallizations. What have been taken 

 for " Stolons," they were convinced are for the most parts crystals of 

 Pyrosclerite. The " chamber casts " were considered to be identically 

 represented among both minerals and rocks, — in the former by the 

 grains of Chondrodite, Pyrallolite, Pargasite, etc., and in the latter 

 by the segmented kernels of Native Copper, Zeolites, etc., in eruptive 

 rocks ; also by the remarkable botryoidal and other shapes which 

 occur in the Permian Limestone of Durham. The authors concluded 

 by offering it as their opinion that " Eozoonal " Serpentine is a 

 metamorphic rock ; and they threw out the suggestion that it may in 

 many cases have also undergone a pseudo-morphic change, that is, it 

 may have been converted from a gneissoid calcareous diorite by 

 chemical introductions or eliminations. 



2. '■' Supplemental Notes on the Structure and Affinities of Eozoon 

 Canadense." By W. B. Carpenter, M.D., F.E.S., F.G.S. 



In this paper Dr. Carpenter stated that a recent silicious cast of 

 Amphistegina from the Australian coast exhibited a perfect representa- 

 tion of the "asbestiform layer" which the author described in his 



