On CarJwmftrous Coal Seams. By Edtvard Wethered. 419 



characteristic is against an alliance witb that genus. Again, the 

 size of the macrosjDores of Trij^losporites is given by Mr. Carruthers 

 as 0-0264*: now the largest of the coal macrospores average 

 0'047; those discovered four inches from the top of the Better 

 Bed 0-01, and the small variety from the Splint coal, fig. 21, 

 plate XL, 0-003 of an inch in diameter. The discovery of 

 spines (?), or tubes, penetrating the coal spores, must not be 

 ignored in determining their alliance with others. At the base of 

 the Carboniferous limestone in the tState of Ohio occurs the oil-pro- 

 ducing shales, known as the " Black Shales." In these Professor 

 Orton,t of Columbo, has discovered vegetable remains which he be- 

 lieves constitute the chief source of the so-called bitumen which these 

 beds contain. In some parts the shale is crowded with minute trans- 

 lucent disks, which turn out to be spores of plants. Professor Orton 

 very kindly sent me specimens of the shale, and informed me that 

 I should find spines on the surface. This I found to be the case, 

 and I have figured them in my paper X to which reference has been 

 made, and in which I have pointed out the occurrence of like bodies 

 in black shales at the base of the Carboniferous limestone in the 

 Forest of Dean. Sir W. Dawson § refers the spores discovered by 

 Professor Orton to his genus Sporangites, which he now regards as 

 allied to Ehizocarps. That some forms of Sporangites resemble 

 the coal spores is clear from the fact that Sir Wi'lHam Dawson 

 speaks of a Brazilian species as being similar to Mr. Carruthers's 

 genus Flemingites, to which, as I have stated, the coal spores were 

 referred previous to the withdrawal of that genus. 



Quite recently Professor P. F. Eeinsch has figured a number of 

 Carboniferous spores under the name of Trileteee, some of which 

 closely resemble some of mine. In speaking of these he says : || 

 "The Triletex are spores of Cryptogamic plants more highly 

 developed ; and if this supposition be correct, the Triletem can only 

 be derived from Lycopodia and plants much resembling them." 



If the coal spores are to be allied, or compared, with modern 

 vegetation, I think due consideration should be made for Professor 

 Williamson's discoveries with regard to vegetable evolution, and it 

 is therefore safer perhaps to say that the coal spores are lycopo- 

 diaceous, resembling in appearance the Ligulatge, which includes 

 the Selaginelless and Isoetese. 



Further investigation will, no doubt, mature our views as to 

 the true nature of the coal vegetation, but one thing seems clear 

 from investigations so far as they have gone, namely, that coal 



* Geol. Mag., vi. (1869) p. 154. 



t " A Source of the Bituminous Matter of the Black Shales of Ohio '' Proc 

 Amer. Assoc, xxxi. (1882). ' 



X Proc. Cotteswold Club, 1884. 



§ " On Ehizocarps in the Palaeozoic Period," Proc. Amer. Assoc, xxxii. (18S3) 

 II Micro-Palseo-Phytologise, Carboniferous Formation, p. 4, Introduction 



2 E 2 



