333 



LIFE=ZONES IN THE BRITISH 

 CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS.* 



Dr. WHEELTON HIND, F.G.S. 



Mr. Cosmo Johns, at my sug^gestion, kindly examined the 

 coral fauna of the Basement cong-lomerate in the neig'hbourhood 

 of Ing-leboroug^h. The beds contain several corals and more 

 rarely brachiopods. The fossils have been submitted to Dr. 

 Vaughan, who sug^g^ests the horizon to be the base of the 

 Seminula zone and upper part of the Syring'othyris zone that is 

 somewhere about the horizon of the Michilinia megastoma beds 

 of Rush. This correlation is of great interest, because it is 

 estimated that the whole of the Limestone Series in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Ingleboroug^h, including- the Yoredales, is only 1500 

 feet, and the Dibunophyllum fauna as found in rocks is probably 

 here considerably more than 1200 feet thick. An interesting 

 problem presents itself as tc what happened in this area between 

 Lower Seminula and Lower Dibunophyllum times. I hope that 

 some work on which I am engaged in the Carboniferous 

 succession of the Isle of Man may throw some light on this 

 question. In Derby Haven Michilinia megastoma occurs in 

 abundance in limestone which succeed the Basement con- 

 glomerate, and this may give a clue. I should not be surprised 

 if these beds eventually turn out to be in the Dibunophyllum 

 zone. 



Important work has to be done in the north to work out the 

 exact zone of each Basement bed. For example, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Shap and Askham, bordering the Lake District, 

 the lowest limestones contain a well marked Dibunophyllum 

 fauna, pointing to the existence of land in the Lake District in 

 Upper Carboniferous Limestone times. Nowhere that I know 

 at present has a fauna below T)^ been obtained in the Pennine 

 area south of Northumberland. The corals of the Lower Lime- 

 stone Series of the West of Scotland are undoubtedly of Upper 

 Dibunophyllum age, and the exact results of this fact have to be 

 worked out. 



* Abstract from interim Report of the Committee, consisting of Dr. J. E. 

 Marr (Chairman), Dr. Wheelton Hind (Secretary), Dr. F. A. Bather, Mr. 

 G. C. Crick, Dr. A. H. Foord, Mr. H. Fox, Professor E. J. Garwood, Dr. 

 G. J. Hinde, Professor P. F. Kendall, Mr. R. Kidston, Mr. G. W. Lamplugh, 

 Professor G. A. Lebour, Mr. B. N. Peach, Mr. A. Strahan, Dr. A. 

 Vaiig-han, and Dr. H. Woodward, presented to Section C of the Meeting 

 of the British Association, York. 



1906 September i. 



