279 



PERMIAN FOSSILS IN THE DONCASTER DISTRICT. 



H. CULPIN. 



The Permian rocks in the neighbourhood of Doncaster 

 include two hmestones separated by a red marl, 30 to 100 feet 

 thick, which contains lenticular deposits of gypsum. The 

 Upper Limestone is about 50 feet thick, and is in beds or layers, 

 with a fossiliferous band near the top. The Lower Limestone 

 is usually about 230 feet thick, and is a massive rock with few 

 signs of bedding. The fossils it contains occur in great abun- 

 dance near its base. Between the top of the Upper Limestone 

 and the base of the Lower Limestone, organic remains are very 

 rare. 



The following fossils have been collected recently from 

 these limestones in colliery shafts and railway cuttings near 

 Doncaster. They have been named through the kindness of 

 Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., and are here recorded in the 

 hope that investigation may be stimulated. The activity 

 expected in the near future in the search for coal will provide 

 facilities for the examination of the overlying Permian rocks 

 which it will be a pity to let pass. 



From the top of the Upper Magnesian Limestone, the speci- 

 mens obtained were — Liebea hausmanni (Goldfuss), Schizodus 

 obscurus (J. Sowerby). These occurred at Bullcroft Colliery, 

 Carcroft, and on the Doncaster avoiding line, near Newton. 

 From the basement beds of the Lower Magnesian Limestone 

 the collection included — Liebea hausmanni (Goldfuss) {d) {e) ; 

 Schizodus obscurus (J. Sowerby) (a) {b) ; Bakewellia antiqua 

 (Miinster) [a) [b) {d) ; Leda speluncai'ia (Geinitz) {b) ; Pleiiro- 

 phovus costatus (Brown) {a) ; Straparollus permianus (King) 

 [a) ; Dielasma elongata (Schlotheim) [e) ; Camarophoria 

 schlotheimi (v. Buch) (b) ; Spirifer alatus (Schlotheim) {b) (c) ; 

 Lingula credneri (Geinitz) {b) (c) ; Productus horridus (J. 

 Sowerby) {a) {b) (c) ; Fenestella sp. {b) ; Penniretepora sp. (&).* 

 Some interesting references were made both by Sedgwick 

 and by King — by the former in his ' Magnesian Limestone ' 

 (' Trans. Geol. Soc. London,' 2nd series, Vol. IIL, 1829) ; by 

 the latter in his ' Permian Fossils ' (' Palseontographical Society,' 



* (rt) = Brodsworth Colliery ; (6) = Bentley Colliery ; (c) = Maltby 

 Colliery ; {d) = Cadeby Cutting, Dearne Valley Railway ; [e) = Cutting, 

 S.E. of Doncaster to Conisbrough Road, Dearne Valley Railway. 



1909 Aug. I. 



