Geological Society of London. 41 



til at lie was unable to be present at the Meeting, but bad sent Prof. 

 Judd a letter, from which he read the following extract : — 



" ] have to thank you for drawing my attention to the paper and 

 discussion in the August number of the Quarterly Journal. Having 

 read this, I venture to think that the specimens which I am placing 

 in your hands may be found of some importance if exhibited at the 

 meeting. 



" Their history is briefly this. Some time ago Sir Joseph Hooker 

 received from Mr. Grindrod a number of specimens of PacJiytheca 

 in situ on pieces of rock. As these examples of the fossils were 

 apparently well preserved, two or three were detached and intrusted 

 to Mr. Norman, who made the sections which are now in your 

 hands. Sir Joseph Hooker did not see his way to any definite 

 conclusion as regards the structure which they exhibited. He, 

 however, allowed me to examine them, and they have since remained 

 in my possession. The conclusion which I arrived at was that their 

 structure agreed, in general plan, with that of Codium, as shown 

 in Kutzing, ' Phycologia Generalis,' pi. 42, f. 1. 



" As a possible algal nature has been suggested for Pachjtlieca by 

 Mr. Etheridge, I think it may not be considered presumptuous on 

 my part to now state that I have been of opinion, ever since I 

 studied the sections, that Prototaxites and PachytTieca are both 

 referable to the same morj)hological type of structure. The radiating 

 cells in the latter terminate internally in loosely interlacing slender 

 filaments, with which the central cavity has been apparently filled. 

 Pachjtlieca does not resemble any type of sporangium with which I 

 am acquainted ; the structure, as displayed in the sjoecimens, has 

 a certain resemblance to that of the sporocarp of Pilularia ; but I 

 cannot reconcile what I have seen of it with the supposition that 

 it was a reproductive structure belonging to any type of vascular 

 cryptogam. 



" According to the views which I take of PacJiytheca, it was an algal 

 organism, closely resembling in essential structure a diminutive 

 Codium, but with the peripheral cells branched instead of simple. 

 I do not see any evidence to lead me to suppose 'that it was related 

 to Prototaxites as a sporangial organ. The existence of Prototaxites 

 on modern biological views necessarily implies the existence, at 

 some time or other, of allied forms ; and I do not see why PacJiytheca 

 should not have been a contemporaneous one. Kew, Nov. 15th, 1881." 



II.— December 7, 1881. — E. Etheridge, Esq., F.E.S., President, in 

 the Chair. 



Mr. W. Topley made a statement respecting the International 

 Geological Congress at Bologna, which has already appeared in the 

 Geological Magazine for December, 1881, pp. 557-561. 



Prof. Judd, at the request of Professor John Milne, of the Imperial 

 Engineering College of Tokio, Japan, called the attention of the 

 members of the Society to the important work now being carried 

 on by the Seismological Society of Japan. The objects at which 



