1 75 
The Meeting of the British Association. 
the Section who were particularly interested in coal-measure fossils 
made an excursion to the famous Dulesgate mine near Todmorden, 
under the guidance of Mr. Lomax, the well-known preparer of 
microscopic sections of “ coal-balls.” The party took train to 
Todmorden and from there drove up the dough in which the mine 
is situated. At the entrance of the mine, which is approached by a 
horizontal gallery not by a vertical shaft, the party was received by 
the manager. The members were then given lamps and embarked 
in small square coal trucks of which a train was formed. This 
train, worked by an endless rope and stationary engine, then slowly 
proceeded for nearly a mile down a long straight gallery about seven 
feet high. The recent heavy rains caused cascades of water to pour 
into the tunnel through cracks in the roof‘ and by the side of the 
rails was a torrent. The effect of the rushing water in the darkness 
of the tunnel was most striking. On getting out of the trucks the 
party proceeded for some distance further through lower tunnels in 
which it was impossible to stand up, progress having to be made by 
stumbling along in a stooping position, often through thick coal- 
dust mud. The coal seam was four feet thick and near the top of 
this are found the calcareous nodules or “ coal-balls ” in which the 
plant remains are contained. They vary from one to several inches 
in diameter and are generally somewhat flattened in shape. Many 
of these were seen in situ , and heaps were lying outside the mine. 
Monday morning was devoted to a discussion on the Evolution 
of the Monocotyledons. This was opened by Miss Ethel Sargant, 
who, in a admirably lucid paper, expounded her theory of their 
dicotyledonous origin, largely founded on her investigation of the 
vascular symmetry of Liliaceous seedlings and on that of some of 
the Ranunculaceae, particularly the “ pseudo-monocotyledonous ” 
forms, but also on certain general considerations, from which the 
probability of the origin of the monocotyledons by adaptation of 
their seedlings to the geophilous habit is inferred. Miss E. N. Thomas 
followed with an account of the available evidence from the 
development and contents of the embryo-sac bearing on the relation 
of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons, The main conclusion was, that, 
while there is a striking uniformity in this respect throughout the 
Angiosperms, the monocotyledons have more similarity with the 
Archichlamydeas than with the Sympetalae. This evidence then, 
while quite compatible with the theory, does not directly support it. 
