Cuprcssocriiuis towns'iuli Kunij, ftp. -101 



his M.A. ill 17G5, after studying medicine at Edinburgh, 

 eventually settled down us Ucetor of Pewsey, Wilts. He 

 travelled in Ireland (17(59), in France, IloUiind, and Flanders 

 (1770), in France and Spam (1786-7), and subsequently in 

 Switzerland, On these journeys he accumulated a fine 

 collection of minerals and fossils (Gents. Mag. 1816, ii. 

 p. 600), and a store of intelligent observations, of which 

 those bearing on geology were utilized in his well-known 

 book 'The Character of Moses estaijlished for Veracity' 

 (1812-15), and re-issued as 'Geological and Mineralogical 

 llesearclies, &c.' (1824). On p. 294 of this work he states : 

 " In the most elevated mountains of the Asturias I noticed 

 extraneous fossils : and met with not a few in Cadiz, Murcia, 

 Alicaiit, and Tortosa." Of these districts, Asturias is the 

 one in which Devonian rocks arc now recognized. Further 

 details are given in Towusend's remarkably interesting book 

 ' A Journey through Spain,' which ran through three 

 editions (1791, 1792, 1814) and was translated into French 

 (Paris: 18C0j. From volume i. of this we learn that the 

 author passed through Leon (p. 376), and he mentions 

 various fossiliferous bouhlers in a torrent near by (p. 379). 

 Limestone charged with fossil shells was observed between 

 Puerto de Somiedo and La Pola de Somiedo (p. 390), and 

 this may have been Devonian. Near the level of the river, 

 two leagues from Pola de Somiedo, the marble is charged 

 with belemnites (p. 392), and, if this be correct, its age is 

 Mesozoic. The earlier pages of volume ii. record the 

 author's journey through Oviedo, Aviles, and Gijon. Near 

 the last place, hcAvritcs (p. 50) : " At Peran in the limestone 

 rock, I met w ith a rich variety of extraneous fossils, of corals, 

 corallines, and coralloides, with cockles/' In this locality 

 are both Devonian and Cai bouiferous rocks, as shown in the 

 coast-section published by Prof. C. Barrois (1882, " Re- 

 cherches sur les Terrains anciens des Asturies, &c.,'^ Mem. 

 Soc. Geol. Nord, vol. ii. pt. 1) ; the list of fossils there 

 quoted from the Calcaire des Canons (p. 481) seems to 

 correspond with Townseud's account, but this rock is LoAver 

 Carboniferous. 



It is, therefore, not possible to identify any particular 

 locality mentioned by Townsend as that from which the 

 Cvpressocrinus was obtained ; but it seems safe to say that 

 it came from the Asturias. Any evidence that woukl tend 

 to indicate the probable locality more precisely can be 

 furnished only by the discovery of further specimens. 



Horizon. There is no reason to doubt that the species. 



