Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 25.djvu/256

162 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 27, perary, Graptolithus priodon is remarkably abundant in close proximity to fossils of an Upper-Llandovery type.

With the permission of the Society, I shall reserve for another occasion the continuation of this subject, when I hope to have been able to complete my examination of localities in the north of Ireland, some of which are of great interest.

Discussion.

Mr. CARRUTHERS remarked that while almost all observers have referred these creatures to the Hydrozoa, there was an impression abroad, founded on a misconception of a remark of Prof. Huxley's, that he classed them as Polyzoa. He had, however. Prof. Huxley's authority for saying that he did not so regard them.

2. Notice of Plant-remains from beds interstratified with the Basalt in the county of Antrim. By W. H. Baily, Esq., F.G.S. (Abstract.)

The deposit referred to by the author was discovered by the late Mr. G. V. Du Noyer in cuttings of the Northern Railway of Ireland, near Antrim; the plant-layer consists of a red clay deposit from 4 to 8 inches in thickness, separated by a bed of 10 or 12 feet, containing nodular iron-ore, from the underying basalt, and by earthy beds of about equal thickness from the superficial basaltic rock.

The author regarded a large cone as that of a true Pinus, and branches of another coniferous tree as belonging to a Sequoia nearly allied to S. Sternbergi, Heer; of this species he thought a small imbricated cone might possibly be the fruit. Other fragments of Coniferae seem to belong to Cupressites or Taxites. The fossils consist chiefly of leaves of true Dicotyledonous plants. The author compared some of them with species of Rhamnites, Olea, Fagus, and Quercus. Leaves of endogenous plants, such as Sedges and Grasses, occur not unfrequently. A large mass of fossil wood of dicotyledonous structure was obtained from the haematitic deposit. Seed-like bodies are also found. The plant-remains are accompanied by by a few elytra of Beetles.

The author remarked that these plant-remains differ as a group from those of the island of Mull. Their alliance appears to be with Mid-European forms; and they are certainly of Upper-Tertiary age, probably Miocene.

Discussion.

Mr. Carruthers observed on the difficulty of determining species, or even genera, satisfactorily, from such fragmentary evidence as that adduced by Mr. Baily. He considered that the small cone did not belong to Sequoia, inasmuch as the cone of Sequoia was not composed of imbricated, but of adnate, peltate scales. The wood was not only dicotyledonous, but coniferous.