PALEONTOLOGY 



THE BRACHIOPODA 



ON a large-scale geological map of England there is 

 seen a narrow, sinuous band of colour traceable almost 

 continuously from the Dorset coast to that of Yorkshire, 

 explained on the index as " Cornbrash." This corre- 

 sponds to the outcrop on the actual ground of beds 

 of rubbly limestone, in which are many small pits very 

 attractive to the fossil collector. Various kinds of fossils 

 may be picked up, but among the most noticeable, and 

 often the most beautifully preserved, are the forms repre- 

 sented in Figs, i and 2. 



It is seen at once that these two forms, though 

 differing in details, have many features in common which 

 distinguish them from their companions in the Corn- 

 brash. Each one shows perfect symmetry about a 

 single plane ; each has at one end a rounded projection 

 perforated by a circular opening ; and the surface of 

 each, examined under a lens, shows, if in a good state of 

 preservation, a regular pattern of minute dots (Fig. i, c). 



Although, as a rule, each specimen appears at first 

 sight to be a single solid body, examination soon shows 



