84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



III. — A Contribution to the Study of the British Carboniferous 

 CMtonidae. By Mr. R, Etheridge, jun.,F.R,Pli.S.Ed.— Cor. Mem. 



With two Plates [I. and II.] 



1. INTRODUCTION. 



Although numerous papers have been written on Fossil Chitons, 

 it is some time since there appeared any important account of re- 

 searches amongst the Carboniferous forms. The last, and one of 

 the most useful, was that by Messrs. J. W. Kirkby and J. Young,* 

 in which descriptions and figures of the majority of the British 

 species were given. The British Permian forms have, thanks to 

 the work of Mr. Kirkby, been much more thoroughly investigated 

 than the Carboniferous. With the view of showing what has been 

 written I have appended a list of the more important publications 

 on the subject. 



The majority of the specimens now described were forwarded to 

 me for investigation by my friend Mr. James Bennie, by whom 

 they were collected from the rich bed of decomposed limestone at 

 Dairy, Ayrshire. This stratum has already yielded a large number 

 of minute and interesting fossils, amongst which may be mentioned 

 the supposed Opercula of Gasteropoda, lately described by myself, f 

 and, as in the present case, collected by Mr. Bennie. These 

 collections form not the least interesting of the many I am indebted 

 to his kindness for an opportunity of describing. I am also in- 

 debted for an interesting series of Chiton remains from the same 

 deposit, to Messrs. James Armstrong and David Robertson, of 

 Glasgow, and John Smith, of Kilwinning, who kindly placed them 

 at my disposal for description. 



The fossils are all in the condition of isolated plates, but are in 

 a fine state of preservation, as evinced by the perfect condition of 

 the surface ornament. In this feature they bear out the remark 

 made by Messrs. Kirkby and Young on the non-eroded condition of 

 the Scotch specimens, as compared with those from the Yorkshire 

 Carboniferous series. \ Our knowledge is at present -scarcely 

 sufficient to speak with certainty of the distribution of the 



* Geol. Mag., 1867, iv., p. 340. 



t Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., Jan., 1881. 



% Geol. Mag., iv., p. 340. 



