319 
R. Etheridge, Jun. — Palceontological Rotes. 
3. In a bed of sliale above a limestone of the L. Carb. Limestone 
group at Hillhead Quarry near Cockmuir Bridge, and Whitfield 
Quarry near Carlops, occur peculiar little microseopic onion-sliaped 
bodies in thousands. They very much resemble an onion in 
general appearance, but at tbe same time are indistinotly four-lobed 
and provided with a small peduncle or stalk. The form is usually 
round or globular, and the four-lobed character is caused by furrows 
or constrictions, but always in a symmetrical manner. Occasionally, 
they are met with of a more flattened form, but still sliowing traces 
of the four-lobate structure. I forwarded these little bodies many 
months ago to Mr. H. B. Brady, who informed me that he was well 
acquainted with them, that they bore no Foraminiferal characters, 
and usually occurred in large numbers together, but seldom where 
Foraminifera abounded. He adds, “ I suspect they must be vege- 
table. They occur in one of the beds of the Yoredale Rocks (Eng- 
land), where they are very abundant.” I have not been able to 
detect any structure which would lead me to assign to them any 
particirlar position in the Animal Kingdom. If they are not 
Foraminiferal, and of this there can be no better judge than Mr. 
Brady, and so far as I have seen there does not appear to be any 
Echinodermal structure about them, we are reduced to the alternative 
of regarding them as of vegetable origin. May they be Sporangia ? 
Collector, Mr. James Bennie. 
4. Borings in the shell or Chonetes Laguessiana, de Kon. — 
Specimens of this species froih shale above the limestone at Roscobie 
Quarry near Dunfermline are perfectly riddled with fine borings 
quite perceptible to the naked eye. They appear to be of two kinds. 
Those seen on the exterior of the ventral valve are straight, and 
all more or less tending in one direction, generally parallel with 
the surface strim of the shell, but at times Crossing these latter at an 
angle. The second kind are visible on the dorsal valve, they are 
irregularly festoon-shaped, and are more commonly confined to near 
the front margin of the valve, but all connected with, and running 
into one another. Each boring appears to form almost a semicircle ; 
these being placed in longitudinal rows, and connected by their 
extremities with the row in front, give rise to the appearance of 
irregulär festoons. They may be the borings of sponges, or perhaps 
of parasitic algar (?). 
Collector, Mr. James Bennie. 
5. Some very minute, quite microseopic, flask or bottle-shaped 
little bodies were obtained by Mr. Bennie from the shale above the 
the limestone at Roscobie Quarry, Fife (L. Carb. Limestone 
Group). They may be described as elongately bottle-shaped, 
inferiorly tapering almost to a point, expanding at about the centre, 
becoming constricted towards the superior end, where bifurcation 
takes place. The larger portion, which is the cell-mouth, is bent 
almost at right angles to the imaginary axis of the fossil ; the other 
portion is continued vertically as a small connecting stolon for 
the cell which would succeed. They have a shining hyaline ap- 
pearance. Examples were forwarded to the Rev. T. Hincks, who 
was kind enough to confirm my previously entertained suspicion as 
