524 



which has given rise to the belief that " the infiltrating mineral has 

 been dyed by the remains of sarcode still existing in the canals of 

 Eozoon." In one of the sections presented to us by Dr. Carpenter, a 

 few of the " canals" were labelled as containing " carbonaceous matter" : 

 they might be said to have a brownish colour — looking at them by 

 transmitted light ; but after decalcification, and examined as opaque 

 objects, they presented nothing more than a dull white appearance, 

 somewhat like the ordinary examples. The Tudor specimen has also 

 been described by Dr. Dawson as having the " canal system imperfectly 

 infiltrated with black (carbonaceous ?) matter;" which maybe taken as 

 inorganically explained by the mineralogist and chemist of the Canadian 

 Geological Survey, Sterry Hunt, who states that the " fossil" is " pene- 

 trated" with the same material as its matrix — a " blackish argillaceous 

 limestone." 



We have grounds for suspecting that this " carbonaceous" piece of 

 evidence in favour of the organic origin of " Eozoon" has been, or is all 

 but abandoned ; and we anticipate a similar fate for the " strong odour 

 of musk, to some extent" given out by " some specimens when cut,"* 

 which has lately been adduced as a circumstance of the same tendency. 



e " Stolons." — Our former criticisms on the parts now entered upon 

 have brought out the admission from Dr. Carpenter, that his figure of 

 the selected example of " passages of communication between the cham- 

 bers" of "Eozoon," stated to have their " exact parallel in Cyclo- 

 clypeus"] is "somewhat diagrammatic. "J As no further elucidatory 

 remarks of such "passages" have been published, clearly it would be a 

 waste of time on our part to add another word to what we have already 

 brought forward (and which still remains invalidated) in proof of their 

 being nothing more than "flattened or table-shaped crystals of appa- 

 rently pyrosclerite," wedged in transversely or obliquely between the 

 serpentine granules or " chamber casts. "§ 



3. Mineralogical Considerations. 



Examining "eozoonal" ophite in the decalcified state, the serpen- 

 tine will be seen without a flaw in one place, while in another, imme- 

 diately adjacent, it is cut up by divisional planes extremely irregular, 

 or rudely parallel ; presenting a confusedly fractured appearance, or a 

 somewhat platy structure. Whether the serpentine is in scattered 

 granules (" acervuline"), or arranged in layers, these peculiarities mani- 

 fest themselves indifferently in the centre, and at the surface ; but 

 they are common in the latter situation. The platy serpentine fre- 

 quently becomes more or less fibrous, often passing into that form of 

 the "nummuline layer," which has its fibres " standing side by side 



* " Quarterly Journal of Geological Society," vol. xxv., p. 118. 

 f " Quarterly Journal of Geological Society," vol. xxi., p. 62. 

 % Ibid., vol. xxii., p. 225. 



§ Ibid., vol. xxii., Plate xiv., figs. 10, 11, p. 208. Plates of white granular serpen- 

 tine (fiocculite) in the same position have doubtless also been taken for stolons. 



