﻿R. Etheridge, Jiin. — Palceontological Notes. 319 



3. In a bed of shale above a limestone of the L. Carb. Limestone 

 group at Hillhead Quarry near Cockmuir Bridge, and Whitfield 

 Quarry near Carlops, occur peculiar little microscopic onion-shaped 

 bodies in thousands. They very much resemble an onion in 

 general appearance, but at the same time are indistinctly four-lobed 

 and provided with a small peduncle or stalk. The form is usually 

 round or globular, and the four-lobed character is caused by furrows 

 or constrictions, but always in a symmetrical manner. Occasionally, 

 they are met with of a more flattened form, but still showing traces 

 of the four-lobate structure. • I forwarded these little bodies many 

 months ago to Mr. H. B. Brady, who informed me that he was well 

 acquainted with them, that they bore no Foraminiferal characters, 

 and usually occurred in large numbers together, but seldom where 

 Foraminifera abounded. He adds, " I suspect they must be vege- 

 table. They occur in one of the beds of the Yoredale Eocks (Eng- 

 land), where they are very abundant." I have not been able to 

 detect any structure which would lead me to assign to them any 

 particular position in the Animal Kingdom. If they are not 

 Foraminiferal, and of this there can be no better judge than Mr. 

 Brady, and so far as I have seen there does not appear to be any 

 Echinodermal structure about them, we are reduced to the alternative 

 of regarding them as of vegetable origin. May they be Sporangia ? 



Collector, Mr. James Bennie. 



4. Borings in the shell of Chonetes Laguessiana, de Kon. — 

 Specimens of this species from shale above the limestone at Eoscobie 

 Quarry near Dunfermline are perfectly riddled with fine borings 

 quite perceptible to the naked eye. They appear to be of two kinds. 

 Those seen on the extei-ior of the ventral valve are straight, and 

 all more or less tending in one direction, generally parallel with 

 the surface striaa of the shell, but at times crossing these latter at an 

 angle. The second kind are visible on the dorsal valve, they are 

 irregularly festoon-shaped, and are more commonly confined to near 

 the front margin of the valve, but all connected with, and running 

 into one another. Each boring appears to form almost a semicircle ; 

 these being placed in longitudinal rows, and connected by their 

 extremities with the row in front, give rise to the appearance of 

 irregular festoons. They may be the borings of sponges, or perhaps 

 of parasitic algee (?). 



Collector, Mr. James Bennie. 



5. Some very minute, quite microscopic, flask or bottle-shaped 

 little bodies were obtained by Mr. Bennie from the shale above the 

 the limestone at Eoscobie Quarry, Fife (L. Carb. Limestone 

 Group). They may be described as elongately bottle-shaped, 

 inferiorly tapering almost to a point, expanding at about the centre, 

 becoming constricted towards the superior end, where bifurcation 

 takes place. The larger portion, which is the cell-mouth, is bent 

 almost at right angles to the imaginary axis of the fossil ; the other 

 portion is continued vertically as a small connecting stolon for 

 the cell which would succeed. They have a shining hyaline ap- 

 pearance. Examples were forwarded to the Eev. T. Hincks, who 

 was kind enough to confirm my previously entertained suspicion as 



