PALAEONTOLOGY 



range in the Silurian. At Dudley Calymene blumenbachi is very numerous, 

 and locally known as ' the locust.' Of the corals, it will suffice to 

 mention the simple cup-shaped Petrcea elongata and the more complex 

 Favo sites and He Ho Ikes. 



Of the Woolhope limestone the fossils are generally the same as 

 those of the overlying Wenlock beds, but there are two peculiar trilobites, 

 respectively known as Homalonotus delphinocephalus and Illanus barriensis ; 

 whether, however, these actually occur within the limits of the county 

 it is difficult to ascertain. On the western flanks of the Malverns the 

 Wenlock limestone and shale, especially the latter, are exceedingly rich 

 in fossils, but since Worcestershire is not the typical area for this 

 formation, mention need be made of only a few. In the limestones the 

 sponge-like Stromatopora, and corals of the genera Omphyma (cup-coral), 

 Heliolites, Haly sites (chain-coral), Favosites, and Cyathophyllum are ex- 

 ceedingly abundant. Those curious Palaeozoic organisms known as 

 graptolites also occur ; they consist of a tubular shaft on one or both 

 sides of which are small cups for the reception of the polypites. 

 Echinoderms of a primitive type, many of which were stalked (stone- 

 lilies), are also common. Trilobites are represented by the genera 

 Acidaspis, Encrirmrus, Calymene, Lie has, Phacops, Homalonotus, etc. ; and 

 many curious jaws of annelid worms have also been discovered. Among 

 the lamp- shells we have representatives of the straight-hinged genera 

 Strophomena, Pentamerus, Spirifera, Orthis,Atrypa, etc., but in the absence 

 of figures there would be little use in enumerating the various species 

 by which these and other generic types are represented. A few genera 

 of bivalve molluscs occur, as well as gastropods of the Paleozoic genera 

 Euomphalus, Murchisonia, Bellerophon, etc. 



Since the Ludlow and Aymestry beds, forming the top of the 

 Silurian, as well as the Old Red Sandstone, are but poorly represented in 

 the county, no special mention need be made of their fossils. Neither 

 would any advantage be gained by referring in detail to the vegetable 

 and other fossils of the Forest of Wyre coalfield, which are, at least for 

 the most part, identical with those of the English Coal Measures 

 generally. It may be mentioned, however, that ferns presenting a net- 

 work arrangement of the veins (a somewhat rare type) have been 

 described by the late Professor John Morris ^ from a shaly sandstone 

 near Kidderminster, and assigned to the genus Woodwardites. A shale 

 bed near Dowles Brook is remarkable for the number of impressions 

 of fern-leaves it contains. 



The Permian beds of the county appear mostly unfossiliferous ; 

 while the Triassic (inclusive of Rhastic) strata contain very few inver- 

 tebrate fossils. The Upper Keuper Sandstone of Pendock yields, how- 

 ever, the bivalve-like shells of the little crustacean known as Estheria 

 minuta. As regards the Lower Lias of the county, it must suffice to say 

 that its fossils are for the most part those of this formation generally. 

 An exception must, however, be made with regard to the so-called 



^ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xv. p. 8o. 

 29 



