in the same latitude. Specimens of this coal examined by Mr. Bowerbank were pronounced by him to be decidedly of coniferous origin, and the structure of the wood to be more like that of Pinus than Araucaria; but on this latter point he was not so certain. It is probable that the examination of a greater variety of specimens would detect several kinds of wood in the coal, as a bed of fossil leaves connected with the formation reveals the existence at the time of various dicotyledonous trees, probably Acerineæ, and of one which I am inclined to consider as belonging to the yew tribe. To these I shall refer again. When exposed for even a short time to the atmosphere, the coal splits into rhomboidal fragments, which again separate into thin layers, so that it is difficult to preserve a piece large enough to show the woody structure in perfection. Much of it falls eventually into a coarse powder; and if exposed to the action of moist air in the mass it takes fire, and burns with a fetid smell, and little smoke or flame, leaving a brownish-red ash, not one tenth of the original bulk of coal taken from the purer beds, for some contain much more earthy matter. Different beds, and even different parts of the same bed, when traced to the distance of a few hundred yards, present examples of "fibrous brown |