76 



OUR COMMON BRITISH FOSSILS. 



found for a short tour, and fossil-collecting might be 

 agreeably diversified by a little archaeology, which the 

 old Norman abbey, etc., of the town would afford. 

 All the fossil corals mentioned as abundant at Dudley 

 are also to be found in the neighbourhood ofWenlock, 

 with the addition of the beautiful Lonsdalia Wen- 

 lockensis. Benthall Edge, about two miles distant 

 from Wenlock, is a famous place for fossils, and 



Fig. 60.— Section oi Favosiies cntncornis, an abundant Devonian Coral. 



corals are there especially abundant, and in excellent 

 preservation. It overlooks the Severn, and the busy 

 but still picturesque Coalbrook Dale. Wenlock Edge 

 is interesting to the physical geologist, for it stands 

 up from amid the softer Wenlock shale. As might 

 be expected, the greater ease with which the latter 

 has yielded to weather action has caused it to be 

 denuded into the plain which it now underlies. How 

 abundant the fossil corals are in the limestone here 



