492 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 
4. Some furlher Notes on Paleoxyris and other allied Fossils, with 
Special Reference to some New Features found in Vetacapsula. 
By Li. Moysry, M.B., B.C., F.G.S. 
Since the publication of a paper on Paleoxyris and other allied organisms 
in 1910 * so many fresh specimens have come to hand, and, as was only natural, 
several previously unrecorded examples have been described, notably some from 
the Lancashire coal measures by Mr. J. Wilfred Jackson,* that it seems desirable 
to record any new features that have been found in the new material, and also 
any new facts that may lead to the elucidation of the nature of these still very 
enigmatical organisms. 
Taking in the first instance the genus Paleoxyris. The species Palaoxyris 
helicteroides (Morris) has been lately found in very large quantities in the Notts 
and Derbyshire coalfield. In this area they seem to be restricted to an horizon 
extending from the roof of the Top Hard coal downwards to above the Ell coal; 
a careful search in the measures below, wherever these are exposed, has not 
resulted in the discovery of any trace of this fossil. They were, some years ago,* 
discovered in great numbers in the open working of the Barnsley thick coal at 
Worsborough, near Barnsley, where some 300 odd specimens were collected by 
Mr. W. Gelder from a space six or seven yards in circumference, together with 
some specimens of P. prendeli (Lesq) and P. carbonaria (Schimper). 
A hurried search in other claypits at horizons above and below this coal 
during the Sheffield Meeting of the British Association in 1910 produced enough 
specimens to make it probable that, if looked for, they may prove to be similarly 
quite common fossils in the great coalfield of which the Notts and Derbyshire 
area is merely an extension. 
In fact, it seems probable that the habit of collectors to look for fossils only 
in the coal-measure shales, to the neglect of the ironstone nodules, may account 
for the paucity of specimens found in other coalfields. 
The other species, Palceoxyris carbonaria (Schimper) and Palwoxyris prendeli 
(Lesq), seem, on the contrary, to be extremely rare in this area, and, when 
found, they are usually associated with quantities of P. helicteroides. 
Vetacapsula coopert (Machie and Crocker) * must still lay claim to being an 
extremely rare fossil. This genus is not restricted to a definite horizon in 
Derbyshire and Notts coalfields, but has been found to range from between the 
Waterloo and Ell coals at Newthorpe Claypit, downwards to the Kilburn coal 
at Loscoe Colliery. Three new specimens have been obtained—two from the silk- 
stone coal, and one from the Kilburn coal. One of these, a specimen from the 
silkstone coal of the Calow Colliery, Chesterfield, shows a feature of great 
interest. When first found the fossil presented the appearance of a very much 
crushed example; but careful development revealed the fact that the fossil was, 
in reality, a perfectly normal flattened specimen, and the feature that gave rise 
to the apparent deformity was the presence of a medial, longitudinal flange, 
or fin-like structure, which extends along the ‘median raphe,’ emphasised by 
the original describer of the genus, dismissed in my former paper as possibly 
due to crumpling, and again brought into prominence by Mr. J. Wilfred Jack- 
son. It seems now that this ‘median raphe,’ which appears to be a constant 
feature in every specimen recorded, may be caused in the ordinary specimens 
by this flange being torn off, and being left embedded in the matrix of the 
counterpart. It is also instructive to compare this new-found flange with that 
described by Mr. Bashford Dean on the egg-case of Chimera collet. 
From the examination of the four specimens in the author’s collection and 
others elsewhere it is becoming more apparent that there are two distinct species 
included under the name of Vetacapsula cooperi. Owing, however, to the 
present uncertainty as to their affinities, and to the rarity of their occurrence, 
it seems best still to. keep them under one trivial name, and separate them by 
1L. Moysey, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. lxvi., 1910, pp. 329-345, and 
plates xxiv.-xxvii. 4 
2 J. Wilfred Jackson, Lancashire Naturalist, Jan. 1911. 
3 R. Kidston, Naturalist, 1897. 
4B. J. Machie, Geol. and Nat. Hist. Repertory, vol. i. (1865-67), pp. 79-80. 
