J. E. Marr — The Coniston Limestone Series. 105 



The last area to which I have to refer is situated in the extreme 

 north of the Lake District. Here a group of fossiliferous beds has 

 been described by Professor Nicholson and myself as occurring at 

 Drygill in the Caldbeck Fells (Geol. Mag. Dec. III. Vol. IV. p. 339). 

 We were led " to refer the Drygill Shales to about the horizon of the 

 Xilandeilo Limestone, or to a slightly higher point in the series." 

 Since then I have re-examined the fossils, and believe that two of 

 them were wrongly identified (I may remark that I alone was 

 responsible for this error). The Calymene recorded is more like 

 senaria than cambrensis, and I cannot distinguish the Trinucleus 

 from T. concentricus. The other fossils recorded are normal Caradoc 

 fossils, and indeed, looking at the former list dispassionately, one 

 would say that there was a preponderance of Caradoc forms, so 

 that our reference of the deposits to the Llandeilo Series was 

 no doubt influenced by its proximity to the Skiddaw Slates, for 

 we remark that " they agree most nearly with the Dufton Shales as 

 regards their fauna " . . . . though " from their general position 

 iDetween the Skiddaw Slates on the one hand and the lavas and 

 ashes (' Eycott Series') of the Caldbeck Fells on the other hand, 

 we should be led to conclude that they occupy a place low down in 

 the latter series." As we have elsewhere seen that the Coniston 

 Ximestone is brought into contact with the Skiddaw Slates, the 

 occurrence of Bala fossils near the Skiddaw Slates is not necessarily 

 to be taken as an indication of the low position of the Drygill 

 Shales, and looking at the fossils as a whole, I am disposed to refer 

 the Drygill Shales to the Coniston Limestone Series, and not even 

 to the lowest position of this, as the fauna is more closely comparable 

 with that of the Dufton Shales than with, that of the underlying 

 Corona Beds. 



Another argument in favour of the occurrence of a Coniston 

 Limestone fauna on the north side of the district is the existence 

 of Cyhele near Cockermouth. Mr. Etheridge describes under the 

 name of Cyhele ovata a fossil found by Mr. Birkett, at Sandy Beck, 

 near Wood (cf. Memoir by Eev. J. C. Ward, " The Geology of the 

 Northern Part of the English Lake District," Appendix A, p. 112). 

 Unfortunately, as I learn from Mr. Postlethwaite, the specimen was 

 not found in situ, but occurred in a pebble ; still, as this can hardly 

 have been brought from the south side of the district, it probably 

 indicates the existence of rocks with Cyhele on the north side. Now 

 this genus is not found in Britain below the Bala rocks, though it 

 occurs at a lower horizon in Russia and Sweden. I have examined 

 Mr. Birkett's specimen (now in the Keswick Museum), and it is 

 very near to, if not identical with, Cyhele Loveni, Linns., a common 

 Coniston Limestone form. 



§ 3. Results of the Examination of the Series. 



The various equivalents of the Coniston Limestone Series have 

 ■been discussed by myself and others in earlier communications, and 

 it is only necessary here to give a general summary of the conclusions. 



In the description of the Cross Fell Inlier by Professor Nicholsoa 



