APRIL 12, 1901.] 
As an appendix to the treatment of the lig- 
nites the author has introduced the results of 
his investigation of a certain curious fossil com- 
bustible from the Lower Carboniferous (Culm) 
of Tovarkowo and Malevka in Russia, Govern- 
ment of Toula. It consists chiefly of the bark 
or cuticle of the ancient lepidophyte called 
Bothrodendron, which M. Renault considers 
distinct from Lepidodendron. M. Zeiller has 
carefully studied this form from the same local- 
ities, but the interesting point brought out by 
Renault is the presence over the whole surface 
of these paper-coal cuticles of bacteria (Bacillus, 
Micrococcus), of which a number of species are 
figured and described, 
The bituminous schists studied for this mono- 
graph also proved rich in the remains of extinct 
microscopic life. Those of Menat, of Oligo- 
cene or Aquitanian age, and carrying dicoty- 
ledonous leaves of the genera Planera, Liquid- 
ambar, Cinnamomum, Persea, etc., yielded micro- 
scopic fungi (Helminthosporium), diatoms (Am- 
phora), etc. Those of the Bois d’Asson in the 
basin of Manosque, of Tongrian age, revealed 
the presence of Ameeboids (Dactylodiscus), 
fungi (Helminthosporium, Macrosporium, Sir- 
odesmium) and diatoms (Fragilaria). Some 
much older schists (Upper Lias) from Anina 
in Hungary were found to contain fossil algee 
resembling the Permian genus Pilu, also species 
of fungi of the genera Mucedites and Moro- 
sporium. 
The bogheads have formed the object of M. 
Renault’s studies for many years. He has 
made the beds of Autun, his native city, cel- 
ebrated by earlier researches. In the present 
work he has greatly extended his investigations 
and dealt with similar material from various 
parts of the world. The bogheads result from 
the accumulation at the bottom of chiefly 
Permian lakes of an enormous quantity of 
microscopic alge, which were probably gelat- 
inous. In the process of deposition, macera- 
tion, and entombment their composition was 
greatly modified by various influences, among 
which bacteria played a part. The most im- 
portant of the alge forming the bogheads of 
Autun was the Pila bibractensis, named by 
Bertrand and Renault in 1892. In the pres- 
ent paper the evidence of the agency of 
SCIENCE. 
579 
bacteria in causing the fermentation of the 
algoid mass is fully presented and the Micro- 
cocci are shown in varied forms. 
In specimens of a similar character from the 
Permian of New South Wales found overlying 
the coal beds, and probably of Lower Permian 
age, there occurs another genus‘of algee which 
has been named Reinschia for Paul,F. Reinsch, 
a German investigator and pioneer in this 
branch of research. This same genus recurs 
in the bogheads of the Transvaal at Hrmels. 
The Torbanite of Torbane Hill, Fifeshire, 
Scotland, which was the subject of a celebrated 
lawsuit over the question whether it could be 
classed as coal, and in which it was at last 
legally so classed, is treated by M. Renault as 
virtually a boghead, and yields a species of 
Pila (P. scotica), Crushed macrospores of this 
alga occur along with the globular thalli, and 
bacteria, although more difficult to find than 
in other bogheads, have been discovered, con- 
sisting of masses of Micrococci. The bogheads 
of Armadale in Linlithgowshire,” Scotland, are 
formed of various gelatinous alge, among 
which another new genus (Thylax) is repre- 
sented. 
Among the numerous samples of American 
cannel coal which I was instrumental in hay- 
ing sent to M. Renault many years ago, and 
which he has carefully studied, there are some 
that he classes with the bogheads, especially 
those from Beaver Dam, Ohio County, Ken- 
tucky. These consist chiefly of the remains 
ofa species of Pila (P. kentuckyana), whose 
isolated globular thalli form groups of eight or 
ten and are not disposed in bands. Bacteria 
are visible in the interior of the thalli. 
The coal-bogheads of Alexandrewski, Kour- 
akino and Murajewnja, in Russia, coal basin 
of Moscow, have a lignitoid appearance, and 
contain, besides a new species of Pila (P. 
Karpinskyi), a new genus, Cladiscothallus, with 
a much branched, discoid thallus. Adhering 
to the walls and penetrating the interior pulpy 
mass of ©. Keppeni is a peculiar Micrococcus, 
which M. Renault has named M. petrolet. 
The passage from bogheads to cannel coals is 
a short step, although these last usually belong 
to the Carboniferous period. They contain, 
however, to aconsiderable extent, the same flora 
