50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 16, 
In conclusion, I may observe that this instance affords strong ad- 
ditional proof, if any were required, that coal seams were formed from 
plants which grew upon the spot; smce we here find not only the 
roots of the ancient forest which flourished upon the under-clay of the 
main coal, but also, so soon as the materials for that coal had accu- 
mulated, whether in the shape of a peat-bog or otherwise, and, in 
consequence of a slight submergence under water, had been covered 
with a few feet of mud, that another forest of Sigillarie*, Lepido- 
dendra, &c. immediately sprang up, which im its turn, owing to a 
further subsidence of larger amount, was submerged, and buried by 
a deposit of coarse sand 24 feet in depth, forming the succeeding 
bed to the shale in the ascending series. 
ee 
5. On the Discovery of Coau on the IsLAND oF LaBuUAN, BORNEO. 
By Tuomas Bextort, Esq., Surgeon R.N. 
Coat has been discovered near the river Gooty, on the east coast of — 
Borneo. It resembles the best cannel coal, and burns readily, leaving 
a little ferruginous ash. The bed is about three feet thick, and is 
covered by grey shale and red sandstone. The island of Labuan con- 
sists of reefs of coral and beds of soft white sandstone with layers of 
blue clay. Near the north-east pot of the island a bed of coal, six feet 
or more in thickness, has been discovered in several places. Some 
of this coal has been used on board the ship, and it is found to 
burn well and leave very little ash. 
6. On the New Rep SanpsToneE of Nova Scotia. 
By J. W. Dawson, Esq. 
In several late papers on the carboniferous rocks of Nova Scotia, 
reference has been made to a deposit of red sandstone skirting the 
shores of Cobequid Bay, and resting unconformably on strata of the 
carboniferous system. I propose in the present paper, to describe 
this formation as it occurs in the above-named locality, and in other 
parts of the country bordering the southern arm of the Bay of Fundy, 
retaining provisionally the name of New Red Sandstone, which is at 
least locally appropriate. 
The new red sandstone of Nova Scotia has already been described 
by Messrs. Jackson and Alger, and by Dr. Gesner. The attention of 
these geologists was however directed rather to the structure of the 
trap, and to the numerous crystallized minerals which it contains, 
than to the geological relations of the deposit ; and they did not di- 
stinguish it from a group of sandstones, with beds of limestone and 
ypsum, occurring in its vicmity, which has sce been shown by Mr. 
Lyell to belong to the carboniferous system. 
* Sigillariee with roots of Stigmariz attached to them are very abundant in the 
roof of the main coal, often occurring at intervals of a few yards. _ 
