List Of Fossils Research Articles

On the Pliocene Beds of St. Erth

In presenting this paper for the consideration of the Geological Society, we desire to state at the outset that it is intended only as a report upon reaching a stage in the investigation of this interesting deposit, and that any speculative remarks which we may venture to offer are intended rather as indicating certain directions to which inquiry may be turned with a prospect of useful result, than as well-matured conclusions to which we are prepared rigidly to adhere. The materials at present available do not warrant us in taking a less guarded attitude, the list of fossils which we bring forward, though very large, being, we are convinced, capable of considerable increase by a more extended examination of the beds than we have hitherto been able to make. The attention of the Society was first directed to the St. Erth deposits by a communication from the late Mr. S. V. Wood, which was read at an early meeting last session. That paper was considered by Mr. Wood to be of a tentative character, nothing very accurate being known of the physical conditions of the deposit, nor was there anything like a good knowledge of its contents, and it was his hope that the attention of competent geologists might be drawn to its occurrence, so that it might be worked out and surveyed in a better manner than, in his invalid condition, he was able to perform. Shortly afterwards Mr. Wood died, and by his desire the whole of the material

Account of a Well-sinking made by the Great Western Railway Company at Swindon; with Lists of Fossils

1. The Great Western Railway Company being desirous of obtaining good supply of water for use in their locomotive and stationary engines at Swindon, determined, in 1883, to sink a well. The spot chosen for this undertaking is on the northern side of the railway, and at the western end of the Company's works. Two shafts have been sunk, very close together―one known as the South Well, to a depth of 246 feet, and the other as the North Well, to a depth of 736 feet 2 inches. The details of the strata passed through in the two sinkings, to the depth of 246 feet, are practically the same, the shafts being 8 feet in diameter and sunk the entire depth. The object of the additional shaft was for convenience in pumping and in carrying away the material excavated. The surface of the ground is 329 feet above the Ordnance datum. From a practical point of view this well has not been altogether successful; for, although the promoters did not actually get into hot water, they tapped a supply of luke-warm and very saline water. The Corallian beds, which occur between the depths of 72 and 112 feet, yielded the first supply of water, which issued at the rate of about 1000 gallons per hour; but neither in quality nor in quantity was it deemed satisfactory. It contained 144 grains of saline matter per imperial gallon. Water again was met with at the depth of 730 to 736 feet, rising

On the Basement-beds of the Inferior Oolite of Gloucestershire

During the last twenty years very little has appeared in the Journal of the Geological Society upon the Inferior Oolite of Gloucestershire. Prior to that period the Journal contains several valuable papers on that formation by able geologists, among whom I may mention the names of the Rev. P. B. Brodie, Dr. T. Wright, Professor J. Buckman, Professor E. Hull, and Dr. Holl. In addition to these papers we have the Memoir of the Geological Survey by Professor E. Hull, ‘The Geology of Cheltenham,’ and Dr. Lycett's ‘Geology of the Cotteswold Hills,’—works which have served as guides to the Cotteswold geologist to the present time. Indeed the work done between the years 1847 and 1860 was of such great extent and excellent character that it seemed as if there was nothing more to do in the Cotteswolds except, perhaps, to make from time to time some addition to the lists of fossils of the district; but after working over the Inferior Oolite of the Cotteswolds nearly a quarter of a century, and going carefully over the work of my predecessors, I am of opinion that another paper at least is required upon the lower beds of that formation before they can be thoroughly understood. My reasons for this opinion are :―(1) That the beds called “Pea Grit” in the Leckhampton section by Hugh Strickland, which name was adopted by Dr. Wright and the Geological surveyors, include in that term―erroneously, as I think―all the beds occurring betwwen the Pea Grit proper

The Bagshot Beds of the London Basin

The opening of several new railways during the last few years has greatly increased the opportunities for studying the geology of the Bagshot district. The railway-cuttings, however, are rapidly becoming overgrown or obscured by fallen materials, and I think that a description of some of the sections may interest the Society. In compiling these notes I have been greatly assisted by Mr. Herries; and the lists of fossils are from our joint collection. The Lower Bay shot beds , 100 to 150 feet thick, consist of yellow and white siliceous and micaceous sand, without green grains, with beds of greyish sandy clay, often laminated, and with more or less distinct vegetable impressions. On the western borders of Bagshot Heath the base of these beds is marked by ( a ) Coarse, often ferruginous sand, occasionally laminated with nearly white clay and sometimes with pieces of wood. ( b ) Irregular and extensive masses of rolled flint pebbles. ( c ) Dark-coloured stiff clay, named Ramsdell clay by the Geological Survey. The railway-cuttings at Goldsworthy Hill, at Ascot, and at Wellington College afford good type sections in the lower part of these beds, and show that the above subdivisions, though varying in thickness, are very persistent. The Goldsworthy-Hill section was described by Prof. Prest.wich in 1847 (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. iii. p. 382). The subdivision C in the above table is there represented by a “coarse greenish sand with a few flint pebbles” two feet thick ; the subdivision D by Prestwich's bed 2, foliated clays eleven feet; E

II.—Memoirs of the Geological Survey. England and Wales. The Geology of the Country Around Norwich. (Explanation of Quarter-sheets 66 N.E. and 66 S.E. of the One-inch Geological Survey Map of England and Wales.) By Horace B. Woodward F.G.S. (Notes by J. H. Blake, F.G.S., and C. Reid, F.G.S.) Lists of Fossils revised by R. Etheridge, F.R.S. London: Edward Stanford, jun.,

II.—Memoirs of the Geological Survey. England and Wales. The Geology of the Country Around Norwich. (Explanation of Quarter-sheets 66 N.E. and 66 S.E. of the One-inch Geological Survey Map of England and Wales.) By Horace B. Woodward F.G.S. (Notes by J. H. Blake, F.G.S., and C. Reid, F.G.S.) Lists of Fossils revised by R. Etheridge, F.R.S. London: Edward Stanford, jun.,

On the Geology of Anglesey.—No. 2

In a former paper on the Geology of Anglesey, which I had the honour of reading before the Society on February 25th, 1880 (Q. J. G. S. vol. xxxvi. p. 237), I endeavoured to fix the geological position of some of the sandstones and shales which overlie the granitoid, gneissic, and schistose rocks of the central axis. I gave lists of fossils and brought forward stratigraphical evidence to show that we had at the base of the series a conglomerate and grit succeeded by sandstones containing fossils which, in the present state of the grouping of those variable zones, would be referred to Tremadoc, and that these were followed in ascending order by black slates and shales, in which I found one Graptolite zone, which was referred to a known horizon in the Arenig.

VI.—On the Discovery of a nearly entire Rhizodus in the Wardie Shales

The fact of the occurrence of Rhizodus at Wardie has been known for a good many years. It appears as an addendum to a list of fossils from that locality published in 1861 by the Geological Survey of Scotland. The specimens hitherto collected, however, have been the merest fragments, consisting principally of detached scales. Almost the first fossil obtained by the writer from Wardie was a badly-preserved fragment of the jaw of Rhizodus containing teeth. Since then a few fragments have occurred referable to the same genus. From the fact that these were invariably found along a particular part of the beach, the suspicion was gradually awakened that they had been derived from a common source. This suspicion was confirmed by the discovery of the remarkable specimen which is the subject of this notice. It was found lying in the direction of the strike of the beds, its head seawards, its tail to the shore.

A Preliminary List of Fossils Found in Riley County

A Preliminary List of Fossils Found in Riley County

On the discovery of a nearly entire Rhizodus in the Wardies Shales

The fact of the occurrence of Rhizodus at Wardie has been known for a good many years. It appears as an addendum to a list of fossils from that locality published* in 1861 by the Geological Survey of Scotland. The specimens hitherto collected, however, have been the merest fragments, consisting principally of detached scales. Almost the first fossil obtained by the writer from Wardie was a badly preserved fragment of the jaw of Rhizodus containing teeth. Since then a few fragments have occurred referable to the same genus. From the fact that these were invariably found along a particular part of the beach, the suspicion was gradually awakened that they had been derived from a common source. This suspicion was confirmed by the discovery of the remarkable specimen which is the subject of this notice. It was found lying in the direction of the strike of the beds, its head seawards, its tail to the shore. The greater part of it was buried under from six inches to a foot of shale. The end of the tail and the anterior portion of the head had been bared by the waves, and though the tail remains almost intact, the head has suffered a good deal from the erosion of the sea. The rest of the fish is preserved. As the bed in which it was entombed is accessible only at very low water, considerable difficulty was experienced in getting the specimen away; but, thanks to the help of Mr Macpherson of

On the Alum Bay Flora

IN the list of fossils appended to the paper upon the Alum Bay flora, brought before the Royal Society by Baron von Ettingshauseu and reported in NATURE, vol. xxi. p. 555, the new species have Ett. and Gard. attached to them, implying that Ettingshausen and myself are their authors. It is only fair to Ettingshausan to state that I had no share in making the determinations, and to myself, that I accept them simply as provisional. Associated as he is with me in the work upon the British eocene floras, he felt that he could hardly publish preliminary work connected with it in any other way. I completely disagree with him, however, as to the utility of publishing new specific names unaccompanied by drawings or descriptions of any kind, and think that a simple list of genera, with the number of new species in each, would have been unattended with any inconvenience. He appears to me to attach altogether undue weight to mere priority in nomenclature, and the existence of such provisional lists, far from aiding research, must prove a serious difficulty to our fellow workers. In the highly probable event of an author being unable to come from some distant country to examine the specimens themselves, is he, for instance, to forbear naming every undescribed species of such common Tertiary genera as Ficus, of which eight new and unpublished species are in the list, of Celastrus, of which there are five, or of any other of the some fifty genera containing new specific names? He could not safely name even any indeterminable leaf or fruit, for fear it might be one of the long list of Phyllites or Carpolithes for which Ettingshausen has devised specific names.

On the Agassizian Genera Amblypterus, Palæoniscus, Gyrolepis , and Pygopterus

W hat is an Amblypterus ? What is a Palæoniscus ? How do we distinguish them? What special reasons have we for referring any of our smaller Carboniferous fishes to the one or the other genus? These are questions to which, I fear, few collectors of Carboniferous fossils could offer very definite answers, and for the very good reason that the definitions of these two genera, which are found in the works usually consulted by palæontologists, are, it must be owned, of a somewhat unsatisfactory nature. Gyrolepis and Pygopterus also are terms frequently met with in lists of fossils from British Carboniferous localities. But by what characters do we distinguish Gyrolepis as a genus? Or what are the special marks which justify us in assuming any of our larger Carboniferous Palæoniscidæ to be generically identical with the Pygopteri of the Magnesian Limestone and Kupferschiefer? Here, again, we shall find our subject enveloped in an obscurity which can only be dispelled by fresh and careful original observation in a field which, since the days of the illustrious Agassiz, has been comparatively little trodden. The present communication embodies the results of my own recent investigations into these subjects, though there is room and need for much additional inquiry, as is self-evident from the nature of the remains with which we have to deal. Amblypterus and Palæoniscus The definition of Amblypterus given by Agassiz in his “Tableau synoptique” is as follows:— “Toutes les nageoires très-larges et composées de nombreux rayons, P. très-grandes; A. large; D. opposée

On Pharetrospongia Strahani, Sollas, a fossil Holorhaphidote Sponge from the Cambridge “Coprolite” bed

In the collection of Cambridge-Greensand fossils exhibited in the Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge, may be seen some rather large and irregular fossil sponges bearing the name of Chenendopora , sp. These are the sponges referred to under this name by Mr. Bonney, in his Text-book of Cambridgeshire Geology (p. 41), and included, also with the same generic designation, by Mr. Jukes-Browne in the lists of fossils given by him at pages 311 and 313 of his paper “On the Relations of the Cambridge Gault and Greensand.” The responsibility for the name rests, however, solely with the Museum authorities, the authors cited having simply quoted from the labels attached to the specimens in the Museum, the correctness of which they naturally took for granted. Why the sponge is named “ Chenendopora ” I do not know; certainly it does not possess the characters of that genus as founded by Lamouroux, nor does it correspond with any of the subsequently described species of the genus with which I am acquainted; it is, though long known to Cambridge collectors as an abundant form, an undescribed species, and, from the very important features it presents, merits a detailed investigation. Outer Form .—The Sponge consists essentially of a somewhat thick plate, which, by folding in various ways, and by uniting with itself wherever its sides are folded into contact, gives rise to a great diversity of forms; thus it is sometimes merely a curved plate, sometimes more or less cup-shaped, while often it is contorted into an intricate pattern, which

I.—The Geology of the Weald (Parts of the Counties of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Hants). By William Topley. (In part from the Notes and MSS. of H. W. Bristow, W. T. Aveline, F. Drew, DrC. Gould and C. Le Neve Foster. Lists of Fossils revised by R. Etheridge.) pp. 503. - II.—The Geology of Rutland and the Parts of Lincoln,

I.—The Geology of the Weald (Parts of the Counties of Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Hants). By William Topley. (In part from the Notes and MSS. of H. W. Bristow, W. T. Aveline, F. Drew, DrC. Gould and C. Le Neve Foster. Lists of Fossils revised by R. Etheridge.) pp. 503. - II.—The Geology of Rutland and the Parts of Lincoln,

On the Kimmeridge Clay of England

T he boring of the Subwealden Exploration has brought into prominence the antiquity of our information concerning the Kimmeridge Clay of England, both as to its subdivisions and as to its thickness. The only recent work done upon it is that of a foreigner, Dr. Waagen, who, studying it on the southern coast at Ringstead Bay and at Weymouth, proposed a new classification, which has been followed by Mr. Judd in his valuable paper on the Speeton clay. With this exception we have to go back to the days of Conybeare and Buckland for information on the subject; and it has been impossible for foreign authors to correlate satisfactorily their Kimmeridgian beds with ours. Dr. Waagen’s paper is brief and incomplete; and there thus seemed room for useful observation on this subject. Both the above-named authors, as well as Professor Phillips and Mr. Damon, have made additions to our list of fossils; but the two latter have only indicated local subdivisions in the beds. On the Continent, though much diversity exists in the arrangement of these beds (each separate locality having palæontological features which, to a certain extent, render unavailable the classification founded on others), the general result is their separation into three zones—the lowest that of Astarte supracorallina , or theAstartian, and the middle that of Pterocera Oceani , or the Pterocerian. On these two there is considerable uniformity of opinion; while the upper, more or less developed in various localities, is either included in the zone of Trigonia gibbosa , or the

M. Barrande and Darwinism

IN the article in NATURE (vol. ix. p. 228) on M. Barrande's “Trilobites,” published in 1871, several statements are made which require not only considerable modification as to the facts then known, but which are entirely misleading when made to appear to represent the state of our knowledge of these acts at the present time. M. Barrande is well known to be a determined opponent to the theory of evolution, and doubtless this strong bias has prevented him from seeing and accepting many facts which would otherwise, to so keen and careful an observer, have seemed inconsistent with such strong views. The list of fossils given by him from the Cambrian formation, and which is reproduced in NATURE, is most incomplete and inaccurate when made to refer to the Cambrian fauna of this country, as will be evident at once by referring to p. 249 of the same work, where a list of fossils discovered by me in the “Harlech or Superior Longmynd” group of Wales is given, and which includes several trilobites; and yet in the above-mentioned article it is stated “that no trace of a trilobite has been found in the Cambrian formation.” Surely no English geologist will be bold enough to deny to the name Cambrian its right to these Harlech and Longmynd rocks, whatever else it may not be entitled to. Nor, indeed, did Sir R. Murchison and the Geological Survey ever attempt such a breach, and I cannot believe that M. Barrande has realised what such an assumption means, or what it would lead to; nor can I believe that it is possible for him to have followers in this country in such a “violation of historic truth,” and, as observed by Prof. Sterry Hunt (in the Canadian Naturalist, vol. vi. p. 448), for no other reason than “that the primordial fauna has now been shown by Hicks to extend towards their base.” Surely this country, which has not only given to scientific nomenclature the name Cambrian, but which has given to all other countries the groundwork upon which to build up theirs, should have a right to explain the succession in its own way, and especially when it is proved that its succession of these rocks is clearer and more natural than has been hitherto found to be the case in any other country. Indeed it is quite clear that M. Barrande has not yet succeeded, in Bohemia, in reaching this early fauna, and it is evident also that his first zone of life is only equal in order of appearance to the latter part of our second zone, and hence the mistake to attempt to correlate our fauna with his zone.

On the Silurian rocks of the south of Scotland: Part III. Wenlock and Ludlow rocks

Upper Silurian Rocks. —We come now to the upper division of this great Silurian formation, the Wenlock and Ludlow beds of Murchison. Rocks belonging to the Wenlock division have been long known to exist on the shore at Kirkcudbright Bay. They were first described by Mr J. Carrick Moore. Messrs Lapworth and Wilson have since found these same beds further along the same line of strike, as far as the centre of the Cheviot Hills. These rocks, Mr Lapworth says, belong to the Wenlock and Lower Ludlow, but from the list of fossils he has given, they do not appear to reach so high as the Ludlow series. In some recent investigations more species of graptolites have been found in the Silurian shales that occur at Habbie’s Howe.* These graptolites are G. Flemingii, G. colonus, G. priodon. These are also described as occurring in the Upper Silurian rocks of the Cheviot Hills, which seems to identify them with the lower rocks of Habbie’s Howe in the Pentland Hills. The Upper Silurian Rocks of the Pentlands. —These rocks, from their richness in fossils, have probably been for their extent better investigated than any other belonging to this formation. From the first discovery of fossils in them by Mr Charles Maclaren, there have been a number of papers published on them.† Since the date of the paper by Mr Henderson and myself, we have gone over them several times, adding to their fauna.* In the valley of the Lyne we have found a continuation

IV.—Description of a New Species of Starfish from the Devonian of Great Inglebourne, Harberton, South Devon

Probably no part of England has received more careful attention from geologists than Devonshire, both North and South, but although the lists of fossils are large, the fossils themselves are often very difficult to determine, owing to the cleavage and metamorphism to which the rocks containing them have been subjected.

IV.—Description of a New Species of Starfish from the Devonian of Great Inglebourne, Harberton, South Devon

Probably no part of England has received more careful attention from geologists than Devonshire, both North and South, but although the lists of fossils are “large, the fossils themselves are often very difficult to determine, owing to the cleavage and metamorphism to which the rocks containing them have been subjected.

Appendix.-On the Palæontology of Skye and Raasay

I. Palæontology Horizons, Skye, &c., and Lists of Fossils. Rhætic? The conglomerates, quartzitic sandstones, and brick-red and greyish sandstones, forming the cliff Ru-na-Leac, may be of this age. No fossils observed. Lower Lias. Hettangian Series(=zones of Ammonites p1anorbis and A. angulatus ).—The blue argillaceous limestones and indurated shales constituting the under cliff on the north side of Ru-na-Leac Bay, I regard as the basal portion of the Lower Lias. Beds 1 to 4, Geikie's section, may probably belong here. The fossil evidence, however, is inconclusive, the coral being peculiar, and the other two species recorded from these beds occurring elsewhere in the zones of A. angulatus and A..Bucklandi , and even higher. A sandstone on the north slope of Ben Glamaig, yielded me impressions of Terquemia arietis , Quenst. Zone of Ammonites Bucklandi .-The rocks of this series present the characteristics of the Yorkshire type of the Lima or Bucklandi beds of the south of England, consisting chiefly of shales with shelly tops and thin earthy limestones, contrasting with the compact blue limestones of the underlying series. The section opposite exhibits the lithological variations of this horizon in the Waterfall Cliff, Hallaig, Raasay. Order ascending. The greyish and yellowish-coloured calciferous sandstones which form the remaining portion of the cliff, contain throughout scattered Gryphæa arcuata ; no other fossils observed. I place here beds 5 to 11 of Geikie's section, as a few characteristic fossils of this horizon were obtained from beds 5, 6, 8, and 10; they are given in the subjoined Table. The limestone

On the Infralias in Yorkshire

Comparatively little attention has been paid to the Lias of Yorkshire for some time past; and consequently it is behind the Lias of other parts as to our knowledge of it. This is especially the case with the lowest beds—the zones of Ammonites angulatus and Am. planorbis —constituting the so-called Infralias, whose presence has as yet been scarcely even recognized. It has long been known that Am. angulatus occurs at Redcar, under the name of A. Redcarensis ; and blocks of stone containing Am. planorbis (syn. erugatus ) are thrown up on the coast; but no section, or list of fossils, has as yet been given of the beds. In the present paper I hope chiefly to describe some remarkable sections at Cliff, near Market-Weighton, where the Infralias is well exposed, and the fauna it contains is large and interesting. But, while I describe this as the Infralias of Yorkshire, I must express my opinion that it does not form part of the typical Yorkshire basin. On glancing at a geological map of this part of England, it will appear probable that there has existed a ridge in Carboniferous-Limestone times, stretching west from a little south of Flamborough Head, which has separated the coal-basin of South Yorkshire from that of Durham, and made a gap in the overyling Permian rocks; and though the New Red Sandstone does not appear to be affected by it, all the overlying Jurassic beds are bent round in a curve on its north side, and to the south