.9 
e : es y^ ® 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 93 
Carpological characters are therefore difficult to obtain; those chiefly 
available are shape, co nsistence, and the number of ribs, 5, 10, or 15, 
reticall 
great significance, no tribe being without an a-pappous Andr 
cium. Great uniformity prevails here also ; the filaments are either hairy 
or glabrous and with or without apical a s. - 
ry 
racters are, however, afforded by the form of the base. This is either trun- 
cate, or eared with the auricles obtuse or acute, or more or less tailed, ten 
varieties being distinguishable. Statistics were given showing how con- 
ren 
merous. The ligulate flowers of Cichoracee are always 5-toothed at the 
extremity and are simply an — tubular flower, split open down one 
side; the ligulate female ray-flowers, on the contrarv, are always 3- 
toothed, the two inner lobes being deficient. 7. Inflorescence and bracts. 
Capitula are universal, and the braets forming the involucre have an un- 
usual value for such organs, and often give good generie characters. 
e so-called ** paleolæ 
tribution was postponed to a future meeting 
BrELFAsT NaruRaL History AND PHILOSOPHICAL Socrery.— 
February 14th.—J. J. Murphy, Esq., President, in the chair. . The Rev. 
G. Macloskie read a paper * On the Silicified Wood of LR Neagh, 
with Notes on the Structure of Coniferous Wood." The petrified wood 
is not confined to the shore of the lake, but is found far in the country. 
"Lignites abound in the districts lyiug to the south and east of the 
lake. The silicified wood is found in the drift deposits at Sandy Bay, to 
the east of the lough, and inland, near Crumlin; but on the west of the 
lough it eae: only on the beach, to which it has been washed by the 
| Mi 
n t 
Post-pliocene clay fragments. Large silicified trunks have been found 
under the Crumlin river, near Crumlin, and one of these, now at Lang- 
- ford Lodge, i 
ne ; woody 
substance has entirely disappeared, 98 per cent. of silica being found in the 
A microscopic examination shows that they often retain the 
delicate structure of the original wood, and the rounded disks on the 
lants. These do not appear to have been the only plants living at the 
particular time and place to which they belonged, for leaves of Alder and 
Beech, and other ordinary exogenous trees, have been got at Sandy Bay ; 
but it appears that coniferous wood will be preserved where the harder 
woods decay. The Miocene flora of this country was rich and varied, but 
it is only the one kind of wood that comes down to us in a silicified con- 
dition. The Lough Neagh silicified wood belongs to the cupressal 
type, and has been termed Cupressoxylon Pritchardi. This group is 
