312 



Microscopical Society, 



The colour, he observes, does not depend altogether upon light and 

 heat, as in that case it would probably change earlier than six o'clock 

 in the morning in the middle of summer., and at all events would not 

 return to the green state as soon as four o'clock ; neither would it, 

 upon being disturbed, resume the red colour in the dark. The green 

 colour could not be preserved by sudden emersion in spirits of wine, 

 which dissolved out the red colour and gave a brown solution. 



Mr. Varley stated his own observations on similar animalcules, 

 which he was disposed to refer to the genus Euglena of Ehrenberg, 

 and endeavoured to explain the change of colour by reference to op- 

 tical phenomena. 



A paper was read by Mr. Bowerbank, " On a new variety of Vas- 

 cular Tissue found in a Fossil Wood from the London Clay." 



The singular variety of vessel, which is the subject of this paper, 

 occurs in a fossil dicotyledonous wood from the London clay of Heme 

 Bay, in Kent. The texture of the mass is very similar to Bovey coal, 

 but more carbonaceous. It is in the possession of Mr. Samuel the 

 lapidary. 



With a low power the wood bears a close resemblance to the 

 structure of beech. A thin section, when viewed as a transparent 

 object with a power of 100 linear, exhibits numerous large vessels, 

 the greater part of which are of that variety of annular vessel which 

 has tti3 annulations very much interrupted, and divided into nume- 

 rous portions of various sizes. 



Occasionally large vessels are seen thickly covered with minute 

 dots having a dark line passing through the centre of each at right 

 angles to the axis of the vessel. The true nature of this singular ap- 

 pendage is best seen by a power of 800 or 1000 linear, which exhi- 

 bits the transverse line as consisting of two lines, separated from 

 each other at their centres, but united together at either extremity. 

 In most cases these lines do not extend over the surface of more 

 than one dot, and their united ends project slightly beyond its mar- 

 gin ; but a few instances may be seen of their extending over two, 

 three, and even four dots, and then the lines are observed to expand 

 to the greatest degree over the centre of each of the dots, and to ap- 

 proach each other slightly in the spaces between them. An almost 

 precisely similar structure had been pointed to the author by Mr. 

 Edwin Quekett in the recent wood of Piper nigrum. 



Another remarkable appearance observed in the same fossil wood, 

 consists in certain of the vessels being occupied by numerous vesi- 

 cular globules, which appeared to have been freely floating within 

 their parietes. When not in contact with each other they are per- 

 fectly spherical and uncompressed, and in some cases are so nu- 

 merous as to fill nearly the whole diameter of the vessel. These 

 globules are very variable in size, and the author considers that 

 the whole of them may be attributed to a more than ordinary deve- 

 lopment of globules of circulation analogous to that observed in 

 Vulisneria and other plants. No analogous structure to this is 

 observable in the recent wood of Piper. 



There was a large attendance of Members and visitors. 



