Montreal Natural History Society. 237 



scope appear as flattened discs scarcely more than one hundredth of 

 an inch in diameter. Specimens of the trunks of Lepidodendrmi, 

 Veltheimianum and Calamites inornatus occur in the same beds. This 

 is probably the oldest bed of fossil spore-cases known ; but in later 

 geological periods similar beds occur ; the Tasmanite or " white 

 coal " of Tasmania, which consists of spore-cases of Ferns, being a 

 notable instance. Prof. Huxley has recently directed attention to 

 the abundance of spore-cases and spores in some English coals. 

 Similar bodies occur in American coals, particularly in those of 

 Ohio ; but though they are found locally, and in some layers in 

 great numbers, they do not constitute the mass of the material. It 

 is to be observed also that the coal-making property of these bodies 

 is due to a chemical composition, which they share with all cortical 

 or epidermal tissues. Dr. Hunt has kindly prepared a table for the 

 author, showing the composition of the corky matter or suberin 

 which forms the cuticle of plants, and the walls of spore-cases. This 

 substance is almost identical in composition with bituminous coal, 

 and is besides very indestructible and impermeable to water. These 

 qualities cause it to be especially suited to the production of coal ; 

 and this perfectly accords with the results arrived at by the author 

 many years ago, and published in his papers on the structure and 

 mode of accumulation of coal in the Quarterly Journal of the Greo- 

 logical Society of London, viz., that coal consists mainly of cortical 

 or epidermal tissues ; ordinary cellular matter and wood proper 

 being comparatively unimportant in its production. Details on 

 these points will be given in a paper shortly to appear in the 

 American Journal of Science. The author next referred to the dis- 

 covery of specimens indicating the existence of three or four species 

 of tree ferns in the Upper and Middle Devonian rocks of New York 

 and Ohio. Descriptions of these plants will probably appear in the 

 Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, and in the forth- 

 coming report of the Geology of Ohio, by Professor Newberry. 



Dr. T. Sterry Hunt made some remarks on the subject, and gave 

 an interesting account of the chemical composition of these spore- 

 cases, and of the cuticle and cortical layer of plants generally. 



Diamonds in New South Wales and America. — Mr. A. E. 0. Selwyn, 

 Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, read a paper on " The 

 Occurrence of Diamonds in New South Wales," by Sir. Norman 

 Taylor, late of the Geological Survey of Victoria, and Professor 

 Thompson, of the University of Sydney. The authors state that the 

 Diamond Drifts are on hills above the present river-bed, and are 

 overlaid by from thirty to forty feet of basalt. These hills greatly 

 resemble the balsaltic hills in some gold districts in Victoria. The 

 underlying rock is Upper Silurian or Devonian, intersected by Green- 

 stone dykes, and the whole watershed to the Cudgegong Valley is 

 carboniferous, resting in places on granite. The carboniferous rocks 

 are full of Glossopteris, Sphenojjteris, etc. The authors are of 

 opinion that the diamonds are not of drifted origin, but that tliey 

 have been formed where they are now found. There is no "Itacolu- 

 mite" or "Psammite." The works were commenced in 1869, and 



