ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XClli 



of some terrestrial plants from the Old Eed Sandstone of Caithness, 

 the specimens being, however, merely fragments, and, as such, only- 

 capable of an approximate determination. The best have been lent 

 for examination, by Mr. John Miller, of Thurso ; and Mr. E. Dick has 

 materially added to the discoveries. Similar plants have been found 

 at Wick by Mr. C. "W. Peach, and by Dr. Hamilton in Orkney. All 

 the collections have passed under the observation of Mr. Salter. The 

 fossils are preserved in hard, grey, sandy nag-stones, many of which 

 are marked by Annelide borings ; and it was suggested by the late 

 Hugh Miller, that these strata had been accumulated on an extremely 

 level muddy shore : some appear to have been fragments of large 

 stems, occasionally three feet long, and are straight and finely fluted; 

 others, which are curved and occasionally branched, were probably 

 roots. They are highly bituminized, and divided by oblique lines, 

 evidently due to mineral structure. From compression, the silex 

 stands out in relief, and the resulting impressed lines may be mistaken 

 for marks of organic structure, similar lines noticed by Dr. Hooker 

 in calamites from near Lerwick having been ascribed by him to 

 "pressure during silicification." The large stems are considered by 

 Mr. Salter to have belonged to Coniferous wood, and the structure, or 

 thick woody envelope, sirrrounding a central pith, to be allied to that 

 of the Dadoxylon of the Coal-measures ; and in confirmation of his 

 opinion, Mr. Salter refers to the authority of Professor Quekett, who 

 examined for him microscopically some sections, and found the ordi- 

 nary Coniferous structure, — namely wood-fibres dotted with disks, 

 which appear to have been in alternating double rows, as in the 

 modern Araucaria. The dotted structure distinguishes the speci- 

 mens from other fragments of fossil- wood without disks, described 

 by Professor Unger. Some smaller branches, bearing branchlets at 

 intervals, are referred to the same plants. Some of the supposed 

 rootlets are marked by tubercles, as are the roots of many Conifera, 

 and cannot, in Mr. Salter's opinion, be ascribed to marine plants. Of 

 Lycopodiaceous plants, Mr. Salter names one Lycopodites Milleri ; and 

 the other he thinks may be Lepidodendron nothum, Unger, though not 

 exactly agreeing with the figure given by Unger, which, however, 

 appears to represent the cicatrices, not the leaves themselves. Pro- 

 fessor Unger considered his plants as constituting a new type, and 

 they came from the Upper Devonian of Germany, whereas the strata 

 from which the fossils described by Mr. Salter were derived have 

 been determined by Professor Sedgwick and Sir E. T. Murchison to 

 belong to the Middle Devonian, and were associated with the genera 

 of fishes Dipterus and Diplopterus. An interesting note was appended 

 by Mr. John Miller, descriptive of the Devonian beds of Caithness, 

 which had yielded these plants. 



Mr. C. J. P. Bunbury, P.E.S., has taken advantage of an interest- 

 ing fossil specimen of the genus Neuropteris from the Coal-measures 

 of Lancashire, to throw some light upon the true character of that 

 genus. He points out the extreme rarity of specimens of young 

 half-expanded fronds of Perns, showing the characteristic circinate 

 vernation. Those hitherto figured have belonged to the genus 



