F. A. Bather — Ordovicimi Crinoids. 71 



of higher fishes which characterized all the seas of the Cretaceous 

 period. The Wealden river drained a land where a typically 

 Jurassic flora flourished 1 ; the only two known Mammalian teeth 

 from the Wealden resemble those of a Purbeckian genus 2 ; and 

 now it is clear that the fishes agree both with these and the reptiles 

 in their alliance with the life of the Jurassic era. 



VI. — Merociunus Salopi^:, n.sp., and another Ckinoid, from 



the Middle Ordovioian of West Shropshire. 



By F. A. Bather, M.A. 



IN June, 1895, Mr. G. H. Morton, F.G.S., of Liverpool, submitted 

 to me three specimens of Crinoidea, registered No. 6Ml in his 

 collection. One of these specimens was a stem-fragment, impossible 

 to determine ; but the other two appeared of such interest that, 

 Mr. Morton very kindly allowed me to make a detailed study of 

 them. The results, though not so complete as might be wished, 

 are now submitted to geologists and zoologists, in order that the 

 former may look out for further specimens, and the latter give us 

 the benefit of their opinion. 



Locality. — With regard to all thi*ee specimens, Mr. Morton writes, 

 under date 24th July, 1895: "I obtained them 25 or 30 years ago 

 at Mincop, the name of a farmhouse, at the north end of a low 

 hill which ends there, being near the east end of a dyke marked red 

 on the 1-inch map, 60, N.E. (Welshpool), on the S.E. of the map. 

 They were collected in a small quarry, or rather large hole, in 

 a field above the house, just inside the gate of the field. I went 

 there seven years ago, but found the hole filled up and corn growing 

 over the spot, so that there is no chance of obtaining any more 

 specimens there. Mr. Watts told me that he had found the same 

 bed on the strike, but I do not think any fossils." 



Horizon. — On page 17 of "The Geology ... of the Country 

 around Shelve," issued at the end of Proc. Liverpool Geol. Soc, 

 session x, 1869, Mr. Morton thus describes the beds: "In ascending 

 order [the Priest- Weston sandstone] is succeeded by the strata of 

 Mincop and Meadow Town, composed of hard light grey sandstones, 

 interstratified with shales possessing an indurated appearance. These 

 sandstones, which run in beds about six inches thick, contain very 

 good examples of Strophomena compressa, Orthis testudinaria, Beyrichia 

 complicata, Trinucleus concentricus, Galytneue brevicapitata, Diplo- 

 grapsus pristis, Pyritonema fasciculus, Glyptocrinus basalis, and 

 others. The shales associated with the sandstones in many places 

 contain innumerable trilobite impressions, Asaphus tyrannus." The 

 name Glyptocrinus basalis in the preceding list refers, Mr. Morton 

 tells me, to all three specimens. The stem-fragment presents some 



1 A. C. Seward, " Catalogue of the Mesozoic Plants, Brit. Mus. — The Wealden 

 Flora, part ii," p. 240 (1895). 



2 A. S. Woodward, "On a Mammalian Tooth from the Wealden Formation of 

 Hastings," Proc. Zool. Soc. 1891 (1892), p. 585; R. Lydekker, "On a 

 Mammalian Incisor from the Wealden of Hastings," Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, 

 vol. xlix, p. 281 (1893). 



