A. J. Jukes-Browne — The Warminster Greensand Fossils. 261 



sequence given. Like many other Carboniferous fossils, they 

 reappear at higher horizons after long intervals, and I have never 

 been able to make out to my own satisfaction any life zones in 

 Carboniferous rocks. What I have observed over and over again 

 is, that a return of similar condition of deposit is accompanied by 

 a return of similar faunas. At the same time, if I could be of any 

 use to other observers in identifying the Lamellibranchiata and 

 Brachiopoda, I should be only too glad to help in any work having 

 for its object the better knowledge of the Carboniferous rocks. 



VI. — The Fossils of the Warminster Greensand. 1 

 By A. J. Jukes-Browne, B.A., F.G.S. 



THE fossils of the Upper Greensand of Warminster have long 

 been known to collectors and geologists on account of their 

 number, variety, and excellent state of preservation; but little 

 information has ever been published regarding the beds which yield 

 them. Collections of the fossils are to be seen in most of the 

 museums of the country, and the fauna represented by these 

 collections has often been regarded as the typical fauna of the 

 English Upper Greensand. This, however, is a mistake, for where 

 fully developed, as in Wiltshire, the Upper Greensand includes two 

 faunas which differ considerably from one another — (1) that of the 

 malmstone and micaceous sand (Devizes Beds), (2) that of the green- 

 sands and chert beds (Warminster Beds). The complete succession 

 of the Gault and Greensand Beds near Warminster is as follows : — 



6. Light greensand \ 



5. Chert beds > "Warminster heds. 



4. Greensand and sandstone ) 



3. Green and yellow micaceous sands \ t»„ •„„„ ^ a A a 



2. Malmstone j 



1. Micaceous clays = Lower Gault. 



When examining the district in 1889 for the Geological Survey, 

 I made every endeavour to ascertain the exact locality or localities 

 from which the so-called Warminster fossils came. I found that 

 most of the fossils which had found their way into museums had 

 been supplied by a man named Baker, who lived at Warminster, 

 and collected them for sale. It was also known that he obtained 

 most of them from a field near Shute or Chute Farm, which is 

 situate about three miles on a straight line south-west of Warminster. 



On going to this place I was shown the field in question and 

 a depression which had been a sand-pit. The men employed on the 

 farm informed me that Baker often visited this pit, but that many 

 fossils could be picked up on the surface of the field after it had been 

 ploughed. I had a trench dug down the slope of the old shallow 

 pit, and this proved the existence of about two feet of hard 

 glauconitic and gritty chalk with phosphatic nodules, passing down 

 into softer sandy marl with a few such nodules, and below this 

 a loose greensand of finer grain containing many of the 

 characteristic Warminster fossils. 



1 Published by permission of the Director- General of the Geological Surveys. 



