v. FOSSILS IN THE BLACK SHALE. 67 



and hornblende, and having- other masses of like nature on its 

 upper boundary. I could never see any dykes of this rock actually 

 traversing the shale, but there can be little doubt of the fact, after 

 inspecting the outbursts at Fowlet's Farm and Bransill Castle. 

 The rock is an ancient lava, consolidated for the most part under- 

 ground, or under the sea. One might, however, mistake the ferru- 

 ginous and cellular stone of Fowlet's Farm for the sub-aerial reliquiae 

 of a volcano in Auvergne. This great deposit of shale must have 

 been formed in calmer and probably deeper water than the Holly- 

 bush sandstone ; and so we get the true idea of the physical change 

 going on, viz. a continual subsidence of the sea-bed interrupted 

 by occasional volcanic outbursts. 



The first discovery of fossils in this black shale was made by 

 myself, after a hard day's work, in 1842. Since then Mr. Hugh 

 Strickland, Miss Lowe and her sister, and other diligent observers 

 have added to the originally small catalogue. At present it stands 

 thus, including Dictyonema socialis, which was found by Mr. 

 Symons in the upper part only f : 



Hydrozoa. Dictyonema socialis. Salter. 

 Annellida. Only uncertain traces. 

 Crustacea. Conocephalus Malvernius. Phillips. 

 Olenus bisulcatus. Phillips. 

 humilis. Phillips. 

 spinulosus. Phillips. 

 pauper. Phillips. 

 Sphaerophthalmus pecten. Salter. 

 Agnostus Maccoyi. Salter. 



,, princeps. Salter. 

 Cytheropsis. 



Brachiopoda. Lingula pygmeea. Salter. 

 Obolella Salteri. Holl. 

 Spondylobolus. 

 A minute bivalve. 



The inference from this list, which, however, contains several 

 species peculiar to the locality, would seem to place the black shales 

 on the parallel of the Tremadoc or Upper Lingula flags. Further 

 discoveries may be expected, but nothing is likely to deprive this 

 Malvern shale of its claim to rank among the oldest fossiliferous 

 strata of England. 



f Holl, Geol. Journal, xxi. p. 91, gave the list nearly as here presented. I have 

 added three species which are in the Oxford Collections. 



F 2 



