309 



A NEW SPECIES OF LIMA FROM THE ENGLISH 



CHALK. 



T. SHEPPARD, M.Sc, F.G.S. 



Some time ago the Museum at Hull acquired the collection of 

 Chalk fossils made by Mr. E. B. Lotherington, from his chalk- 

 pit at Middleton-on-the-Wolds. This pit is situated at a 

 height of 223 feet above sea-level at a point about equidistant 

 from Beverley and Driffield, and a little to the west of those 

 places. The quarry is ioo feet deep. 



The collection referred to consists of nearly a thousand 

 specimens, remarkable on account of their excellent state of 

 preservation and by the fact that they differ in general appear- 

 ance from the fossils usually found in the Chalk of Yorkshire. 

 There are, moreover, several species not recorded from the 

 Chalk of any other part of the North of England. The Sponges, 

 too, are unusual in appearance, inasmuch as in many cases they 

 consist entirely of oxide of iron, but, notwithstanding, the 

 most minute details of their structure are still preserved. 



The quarry is also well known as yielding the fine series of 

 Inoceramus involutus Sowerby, notable in this locality on 

 account of its abundance and unusually large size. The largest 

 specimen we have has a height of 114 mm. in its upper or right 

 valve, and a length of 216 mm., while the lower valve is still 

 larger on account of its inflation; it is 300 mm. across, and 

 554 mm. along the outside edge. Some of these Inocerami, as 

 in the case of many of the Sponges, are preserved in a light- 

 coloured, brittle flint, which in places resembles very hard 

 white chalk in texture. 



In connexion with this quarry, one may mention also the 

 large number and variety of well-preserved specimens found 

 there, having regard to its limited area ; though this may be 

 to some extent due to the assiduity with which the specimens 

 have been collected. 



Among the specimens in our collection from the Middleton 

 pit are Sponges (various species, including Stachyspongia 

 spica* Roemer sp.), Inoceramus involutus Sowerby, /. cuvieri 

 Sowerby, Spondylus latus Sowerby, Lima hoperi Mantell, 

 Terebratula carnea Sowerby, T. semiglobosa Sowerby, 

 Terebratulina striata Davidson, Actinocamax verus Miller, 

 Micraster cor-angtcinum Leske, M. praecursor Rowe, Echino- 

 corys scutatus Leske, Cidaris sceptrijera Mantell, C. hiritdo 

 Sorignet, Epiaster gibbits, Parasmilia centralis Mantell, Poro- 



* Of this species, Dr. A. W. Rowe informed Mr. Lotherington that he 

 had not previously seen it above the Chalk Marl, hundreds of feet lower 

 than the Middleton example. 



1917 Oct. l. 



