292 THE XEKO PHYTIC CHAEACTEES OE COAL-PLANTS. [Aug. I907, 



Attention had recently been directed to the different modes of 

 occurrence of the Coal-Measure petrifactions, that was, in 'seam'- 

 and in ' roof '-nodules, and the view had been expressed (and 

 appeared to be well founded) that, while the former consisted of 

 plant-remains fossilized where they fell, the latter might well have 

 belonged to an inland flora that had drifted down the rivers. This 

 was a warning that, in the Coal-Measures, the plants of more than 

 one habitat might have to be considered. 



At the present day new discoveries in paleobotany followed one 

 another so rapidly, and had so important a bearing upon the history 

 of the evolution of the vegetable kingdom, that the ecological aspects 

 of these vegetations had for the moment been relegated to a 

 secondary place. The Author had done good service in raising the 

 question, and it was much to be hoped that competent ecologists 

 would direct their attention to these matters. 



Prof. J. E. Haeeison drew the attention of the Fellows to the 

 extensive tracts of tropical peat, known locally as ' pegass,' which 

 were situated behind the fringes of courida and mangrove-swamps 

 in many parts of the low-lying coast-lands of British Guiana. The 

 pegass varied in depth from 1 to about 8 or 10 feet, but was. 

 usually not more than from 2 to 4 feet deep. It largely consisted 

 of the more or less altered remains of ferns, sedges, and other 

 marsh-loving plants. He pointed out that od the pegass-land the 

 alternation of the wet and dry seasons allowed both marsh and 

 ordinary plants to grow upon it, that in places considerable areas 

 were covered with Aeta palm-forest, and that a critical study of 

 its modes of occurrence and of formation would, in his opinion, 

 throw light upon some of the problems relating to the formation 

 of the Coal-Measures. 



The Rev. E. C. Spicee drew the Author's attention to an 

 interesting paper bearing on his xerophytic theory, published by 

 the late Mr. C. L. Herrick in Journ. Geol. Chicago, vol. xii (1904) 

 pp. 237-51, on the JSandia-Be&s of Socorro (New Mexico). Shales, 

 underlain by a ferruginous conglomerate that rested directly upon 

 the granite, contained plant-beds with five species of Le_pidodendron. 

 These had, however, transpiring vents well marked on either side of 

 the cicatrix with which they were connected. 



Mr. G. Elmsley Coke, speaking, not as a botanist, but as a 

 practical coal-miner, agreed with the Author's conclusion that 

 undulations in the Coal-Measures had some connexion with the 

 formation of the coal-seams, but he differed from the suggestion 

 that an under-clay was always present. In South Africa, and even 

 in this country, he had found seams overlying hard sandstones or 

 even conglomerates. Considering that the Coal-Measures were more 

 accessible for observation than any other formation, he thought 

 that it was to be regretted that geologists did not avail themselves 

 more frequently of the opportunities of studying the conditions 

 in situ. 



The Autthoe observed, in reply, that none of the speakers had 

 given any examples of fossil plants indicative of the present flora 



