HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



247 



which vary in number from two to twenty-six. Each 

 ring consists of an axis with pleurae on each side. 

 The pleurae are sometimes faceted to enable them to 

 slide over each other when the animal rolls itself up. 

 In other cases the plurae end in points. The tail, or 

 pygidium, is in one piece ; the margin is sometimes 

 entire, and sometimes it is produced into points. No 

 undoubted traces of legs have ever been found. 



Much of the lower ground stretching immediately 

 west of the Malvern Hills from the British Camp to 

 Cowleigh Park consists of Wenlock shales, and the 

 Wenlock limestone forms the high ground beyond. 

 The quarry in Purlieu Lane, the ridgeway at Eastnor, 

 the Croft quarries below the Westminster Arms yield 

 plenty of good fossils. At the west end of Malvern 

 tunnel small trilobites, mostly curled up, abound, 

 and as many as half-a-dozen, some quite perfect, 

 have been obtained at a single visit of our club. It 

 would appear, I think, from the number of fossils 

 displayed in these cases, that during the construction 

 of Malvern tunnel, the late Mr. Reece must have 

 forsaken the museum and have taken up his quarters 

 in the shanties of the navvies engaged there. The 

 place must have been a veritable museum, and it is 

 a matter of congratulation that such an opportunity, 

 which can only occur once in the course of centuries, 

 was not allowed to slip by without the greatest efforts 

 being made to secure the specimens then brought to 

 light. At Hill End Martley, Ridge Hill, and the 

 quarries extending from Hillside to Woodbury Hill, 

 also abound the typical fossils of this formation. 

 Unfortunately, this latter district appears either not 

 to have attracted, or its inaccessibility to have 

 repelled, the Worcester collectors who formerly 

 sent their specimens to this museum. Although 

 most prolific ground, it is positively unrepresented. 

 The distance, however, has proved no obstacle 

 to our club, and although the walk is a most 

 tedious and dreary one, many a member's col- 

 lection is enriched with splendid examples of 

 Wenlock fossils obtained there. The absence of 

 specimens in this museum is much to be regretted, 

 the more so as this district seems to yield forms not 

 so easily obtained elsewhere. I have myself found 

 many genera of polyzoa, which I have found great 

 difficulty in determining, owing in some measure to 

 this omission. Fortunately, however, some time ago, 

 I obtained an introduction to Mr. Geo. R. Vine, of 

 Sheffield, who has made the polyzoa his special study, 

 and to him I have submitted my specimens. Mr. 

 Vine said that none of the forms which I sent were 

 polyzoa, according to his work, but that they were 

 allied to the bryozoa of American paleontologists. 



The Ludlow formation, which succeeds the Wen- 

 lock in stratigraphical order, falls naturally into three 

 divisions — lower, middle, and upper, but the middle 

 division is better known as the Aymestry limestone. 

 The Lower Ludlow, according to Murchison, is 

 simply an upward prolongation of the Wenlock 



formation."* " One of the most prevalent of the 

 organic bodies found in the Lower Ludlow," he 

 adds, "is our old friend, Caly incite Blumenbachii, 

 and it is accompanied very frequently by the long- 

 tailed asaphus, or, as it is now called, Pliacops 

 longkaiidahts. The earliest fish (Scaphaspis), occurs 

 in these beds. The Aymestry Rocks are more 

 crystalline than the beds on which they rest, or those 

 by which they are succeeded. The most charac- 

 teristic fossils are Pentamerns Knightii, Rhynchonetta 

 IVilsoni, and Lingula Leivisii ; the last so named 

 because the Rev. T. T. Lewis first worked out the 

 relative position and fossil contents of the Aymestry 

 limestone, where the fossil is found most abundantly. 

 Sir Roderick Murchison has spoken of Mr. Lewis as 

 "my most efficient coadjutor in all the regions of 

 Siluria." The Upper Ludlow beds are remarkable 

 for the abundance of fish remains they yield, and for 

 the first appearance of land plants. Some care is 

 required when working in the Ludlow and Aymestry 

 at Abberley. Professor Philips has pointed out in 

 his memoir that there is an anticlinal of Aymestry 

 Rock which has the singular character of being folded 

 or bent on an axial plane dipping to the east, so that 

 the Ludlow Rocks overlie the Old Red beds, while 

 on the east the ridge of Wenlock limestone is seen 

 dipping in the same direction as if it were a superior 

 stratum, t 



The members of the club have visited upon more 

 than one occasion this charming district, where at 

 almost every turn of every road a different prospect 

 opens out, presenting fresh views of the varied 

 features of this lovely country. The quarry in 

 Walsgrove Hill, which attains an altitude of 880 feet, 

 and seems to bid defiance to the Abberley height 

 opposite, which rises more than 100 feet above it, is 

 remarkable for the great abundance of R. Wilsoni 

 which stud the face of the rock, there almost 

 perpendicular. Pleasant — exceedingly pleasant — it 

 is at the close of a day spent about those hills, each 

 one reposing beneath a crown of luxuriant foliage, 

 when the fatigues of the day begin to warn one that 

 rest and refreshment must be sought before the 

 return journey is icommenced, to hear in undulating 

 cadences, now borne upon the fitful breeze, now 

 gently subsiding into softer strains, the melodious 

 notes of " Home, sweet home," from the rich and 

 full-toned peal in the valley just at hand. Not less 

 picturesque, but perhaps more romantic, is Purlieu 

 Lane, or, as the natives call it, Perley Lane, Col wall, 

 where all the formations from the Upper Llandovery 

 to the Upper Ludlow are passed over in succession. 

 At Brockhill Copse, Upper Ludlow fossils are found, 

 the neat little Orthonota and the long strap-like 

 Scrpulitcs longissimus. It is a matter for extreme 

 regret that no fossils from the Ludlow or Aymestry 

 beds find a place anywhere in these cases. 



* "Siluria," p. 13S. 



f Geo!., p. 16. 



