552 Geological Society. 



the existence of faunal horizons at the collieries of South Liberty, 

 Easton, Hanham, Speedwell Deep, and Coalpit Heath in the Bristol 

 and Gloucestershire area, and at Ludlows, Middle Pit, Tyninp:, 

 Wells\va)% Writhlington, Foxcote, Dunkerton, Jfewbury, and 

 Mackintosh collieries in the lladstock area. A measured section 

 of 760 feet between the Ashton Great Vein and the Bedminster 

 Great Vein at the South Liberty colliery, Bristol, has been exa- 

 mined in detail, and four faunal horizons discovered. These 

 horizons occur at 134, 284, 286, and 637 feet respectively below 

 the Bedminster Great Vein. In every case the fauna was marine 

 in character, and the Author's work shows that the Ashton and 

 Bedminster Series of Bristol, the Coalpit Heath and Parkfield Series 

 of the northern part of the Coalfield, and the Vobster Series of 

 lladstock are all characterized by a fauna agreeing with the typical 

 fauna of the Lower Coal Measures of the coalfields of the Midlands, 

 and of Lancashire and Yorkshire. 



Species of Carbonicola are rare, while the cephalopod and fish 

 fauna is poor. The Second or Farrington Series of the Upper Coal 

 Measures has yielded Lingula mytiloides, several species of ostracods, 

 four species of Anthracomya, and scales of Strepsodxis snuroides. 

 CoelacantJius elegans has been found in the First or Upper lladstock 

 Series. The presence of marine phases in the Bristol Coalfield is 

 confirmatory of the evidence obtained by Mr. "W. H. Dyson in the 

 Torkshii'e Coalfield, where an extensive fauna has been found in 

 four horizons above the Barnsley Coal. 



In the Bristol, as in the Yorkshire Coalfield, the marine fauna 

 undergoes no marked change in its upward range, specific identity 

 being retained in the uppermost horizons, while new species are 

 rare. 



Insect-wings referred to the genus Gnientomiim have been found 

 at one horizon in the South Liberty colliery, Bristol, 637 feet below 

 the Bedminster Great Vein ; while the rare phyllopod, Leaia leidt/ii, 

 var. saUeriana, hitherto only known from the Lower Carboniferous 

 of Fifeshire, was found in great abundance in the roof-shales over 

 the High Vein of the Parkfield Series at Coalpit Heath Colliery. 

 Frequently the specimens occurred in dense clusters, the latter 

 being distributed over the surface of the slalts of shale. The 

 smallest are not more than 2 millimetres in length, the largest 

 reaching 8 mm. ; hundreds of examples were found. The total 

 number of species now recorded by the Author from the Bristol 

 Coalfield amounts to sevcnty-foiir : they are as follows : — Echino- 

 dermata 1 ; Vermes 2 : Brachiopoda 9 ; Pelecyi»oda 25 ; Gastero- 

 poda 13 ; Cephalopoda 8 ; Arthropoda 6 ; and Pisces 10. 



