A Curious Fossil Charophyte Fruit

Abstract

THROUGH the kindness of Mr. Henry Woods, I have had the opportunity of examining three blocks of limestone belonging to the Sedgwick Museum at Cambridge, which were collected by the late E. B. Tawney, from the “Chara Bed”, Étage Oeningien, Upper Miocene, at Locle, Jura (Canton Neuchatel, Switzerland). The blocks contain a number of the remains of fruits of a species of Charophyte, which present a feature I had not hitherto observed, and to which I think attention may advantageously be drawn. Before describing this peculiarity, however, it will be desirable to say something as to the conditions of preservation in which such bodies are usually found.