610 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 



are irregular in their occurrence and of uncertain quality. In the Doncaster and 

 Thorne area the Dunsil Coal 50 feet below the Barnsley bed appears to be a 

 valuable seam, but it deteriorates south of Doncaster. Most of the lower coals 

 over the recently proved extension of the coalfield lie beyond the limit of profit- 

 able working. The future resources of the coalfield therefore mainly depend upon 

 the thickness, quality, and depth of the Top Hard or Barnsley Coal. 



Extension. — As a result of the explorations made since the Report of 1905 the 

 proved limit of the concealed coalfield may with some confidence be extended to 

 aline joining Selby, Thorne, Haxey, and Owthorpe, but the quality and thickness 

 of the coal cannot be foretold. There is no conclusive evidence to show whether, 

 north of Thorne, the Barnsley Coal will take on the inferior character which it 

 assumes northeast and east of Wakefield under the name of the Warren House 

 Coal, and whether the thinning out of the Top Hard Coal observable in gome of 

 the collieries south of Mansfield will continue to the east. 



A further extension north of the Ouse, east of the Trent, and south-east of 

 Owthorpe is probable, but it is important to bear in mind how much there must 

 be of conjecture in any conclusions arrived at from the slender evidence at 

 present available. 



3. Marine Bands in the Yorkshire Coal Measures. By H. Culpin. 



Until recently the records of marine fossils in the Yorkshire Coal Measures, 

 except from the lowest beds, were very meagre. Five bands containing them 

 were known, two (the roof of the Thin coal, and the Pccten bed forming the 

 roof of the Gannister coal) being near the base of the Coal Measures, one about 

 80 feet above the Silkstone coal, and two above the Shafton coal. 



As the result of an examination of the ground gone through in sinkings to 

 the Barnsley coal in the neighbourhood of Doncaster, four further bands, all 

 of which lie between the Shafton and the Barnsley coals, can now be added to 

 the list, the positions of the same being approximately 700 feet, 575 feet, 

 385 feet, and 110 feet above the Barnsley coal. 



The band about 700 feet above the Barnsley coal is the most important one 

 of the four, and its distinctive characteristics make it an excellent datum line 

 easy of recognition in the exploration of the corfcealed coalfield to the east of 

 the county. It is 15 to 16£ feet thick. At the top it consists of blue shales 

 marked with fucoids and having a soapy feeling to the touch. Similar shales 

 below these are crowded with Liiujida mytiloid-es. Beneath these are greyish- 

 blue hard shales, which in turn rest on a hard greyish blue limestone. The 

 lower shales are very fossilii'erous, and the limestone moderately so. The fossils 

 obtained include five species of brachiopods, sixteen species of lamellibranchs, 

 three species of gasteropods, thirteen species of ccphalopods, and a crustacean. 

 Among the fish remains is IAstrracanihus wardi. 



Marine fnssils have alto been recently found in clay pits at Darfield. at 

 Walton, near Wakefield, at Nost«U, and at Castleford, but the position of the beds 

 containing them in the geological sequence has not yet been fully worked out. 



4. The Occurrence of Marine Bands at MaUby. By W.u. H. Dyson. 



During the sinking operations at Maltby the writer has located the strati- 

 graphical position of the fossils found, and has inspected the excavated debris 

 day by day. Although all fossils have been collected, reference is only here 

 made to the marine bands. 



Taking the top of the Barnsley C'ual (2,452 feet 2 inches deep or 2,193 feet 

 5 inches below Ordnance datum) as a base line, the lowest marine band, 

 S feet 7 inches thick, occurred 340 feet 1 inch above the Barnsley Coal, the 

 section being 1 foot 11 inches of bastard cannel overlain by 6 feet 8 inches of 

 blackish bind with balls of pyrites, and contained the followiag fossils, mostly 

 preserved in pyrites : Lingula mytiloides, ? Posidoniella, Pterinopecten carbon- 

 anus, V. papyraceus, Hcaldia carbonaria, Euphemus urei, Macroe.heUina sp., 

 Glyphioceras sp., Coelacanthus, ? Cheiroclus, Meaaliehthya, Rhadinichthya 



