Royal Physical Society. 459 



Dipterus, Diplopfcerus, and Osteolepis ; and then the gigantic 

 " nail-bone " of the Asterolepis, — all unmistakeable " foot- 

 prints of the Creator ;" these, with the scaly Lepidodendron, 

 and other land-plants,* all causing me to look back on the 

 past Eons. Willing as I might be to muse, and to ask my- 

 self questions, I was not long able to do so ; for, in my move- 

 ments, I came upon rocks of a different character and hue, on 

 which were portrayed pictures of recent plants well known to 

 me. I might have drawn on my imagination, and fancied 

 that some one well skilled in drawing, and willing not to be 

 idle, having found a stretch of flattened rocks prepared for 

 the purpose, had traced with no " 'prentice han'," some of the 

 algse of our shores, with a light yellowish colour on the dark 

 ground, and had succeeded so well, that at once I was able to 

 name the genera and species quite as readily as if the plant 

 itself had been displayed on paper, and presented to me for 

 examination by one of the lady algologists who reside in Po- 

 mona, and who have, by their persevering and laudable indus- 

 try, earned the good wishes of all naturalists, by having added 

 so largely to our knowledge of the beautiful " sea-flowers " 

 which had blushed so long unseen on these rich and interest- 

 ing shores. Now no longer unseen, of which I had ample 

 evidence in the splendid collections so kindly shown to me by 

 several of the lady collectors. I greatly regretted that my 

 legitimate work (the looking after the fossil land-plants) 

 would not permit me to examine them so carefully as I could 

 have wished ; for amongst them I saw many species which 

 hitherto I had only seen on the southern shores of England. 

 To return to the pictures : — I found that they covered large 

 spaces, some of them three feet in length by one-half as 

 much in breadth, and between the tide-marks, from one- 

 half to one-third from low water. Desmarestia ligulata 

 was the predominant form, with Desmarestia (formerly Di- 

 cliolria) viridis. I noticed that D. ligulata appeared to be 

 plentiful. A great quantity of it was lying on the rocks, in 

 various stages of decay, no doubt making more pictures where 

 it rested. The form on the slab sent with this, compared with 



* See No. 53, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, February 1, 1858, 

 page 72, plate V. This I got this day, 16th April 1858. 



