66 PROCEEDINGS OE THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 1 894, 



spot. If there had been any great number of upright trees they would 

 have interfered with the parallel structure of the coal, nor is it 

 probable that this interference would have been obliterated by 

 pressure or by metamorphism. Where are the trees from which the 

 macrospores of spore-coal were shed ? Tbe partings of coal in seams 

 have yet, he thinks, to be explained. 



Some other considerations were advanced by Mr. Gresley of 

 a more general nature, such as the presence of houlders and other 

 foreign bodies in the undnrclay and coal-beds : whilst aquatic 

 mollusca and fishes are found in the coal itself. He points out 

 likewise that marine conditions prevailed, if not during the accu- 

 mulation of many of our coal-beds, yet without doubt immediately 

 afterwards, as may be inferred from the presence of marine fossiis 

 and brine in the coal. 



Let us now turn to a paper by Mr. Kirkby on the occurrence of 

 marine fossils in the Coal-measures of Fife. These are divided into 

 two series, viz. the Lower Beds with workable coals (c7 5 of the 

 Geol. Survey) and the Upper Eed Beds (d 5 ' of the Geol. Survey). 

 The marine bed lies almost at the top of the former series, having 

 been proved at two localities. Together with the remains of some 

 of the ordinary Coal-measure fishes there occur, in a dark-coloured 

 shale, specimens of Discites and Orthoceras, of Bellerophon and 

 Murchisonia, and of Productus, Dischia, and Lingula. One of these 

 latter, viz. Lingula myt'doides, is also found along with Discina 

 nitida in the Lower Permian limestone of Durham and Northumber- 

 land. 



This author likewise proceeds to enumerate the occurrence of 

 marine fossils in the Coal-measures of the West of Scotland, where 

 they have been noted on no less than four horizons. He further 

 illustrates his views by quoting Phillips's notice of the occurrence 

 of Aviculopecten, Posidonomya, Goniatites, and Orthoceras in the 

 roof of one of the Ganister Coals in the West Biding of Yorkshire, 

 and alludes to the occurrence of brine both in the Lancashire and 

 Staffordshire coal-fields. 



In speculating on the conclusions which may be adduced from the 

 above facts, Mr. Kirkby speaks of inroads of the sea bringing back 

 species of shells and even crinoids, such as had existed in the 

 Carboniferous Limestone ocean of an earlier period, and thus infers 

 that the sea itself could not have been far off during the deposition 

 of the Coal-measures. These intercalated marine beds, he says, 

 seem easier of explanation when the formation is looked upon 



