540 Br. H. Woodicard — Discovery of Trilohites 



to our list, but the intractable nature of the matrix has precluded our 

 doing more at present. 



It may be interesting to record the fact here that in the "Tuedian " 

 group or Lower Carboniferous of Budle, Northumberland, Prof. G. 

 A. Lebour has obtained specimens of Posidonomya Beclieri, and 

 Goniatites, like those of Devonshire. 



"The Tuedian group (says H. B. Woodward) and the Lower 

 Limestone shale are homotaxial with the Calciferous Sandstone group 

 of Scotland" ("England and Wales," p. 78). 



Whatever may be finally decided to be the exact horizon of the 

 Culm-measures near Bideford, I think it can no longer be denied 

 that the Posidonomya and Goniatite shales of both North and South 

 Devon are really (as suggested by Dr. A. Geikie, and now shown 

 from their fossil contents by Mr. John E. Lee) at the very base of 

 the Carboniferous series, and are equivalent to the Lower Carboni- 

 ferous series of the Ehenish Province and the Hartz. 



There is little doubt also that the plant-remains whicb occur in 

 the associated sandstones of the same regions are older than those 

 of the Millstone-Grit series, and must be correlated with the Calci- 

 ferous Sandstone series around Edinburgh. 



The Trilobite remains from the Culm-shales of Waddon-Barton, 

 Devonshire, are met with in the same condition as the Goniatites 

 and other fossils with which they are associated. They are all 

 highly compressed, and often considerably affected by cleavage, 

 causing them to be more or less distorted. 



Having recently visited Waddon-Barton, Chudleigh, and many of 

 the localities for Culm-shale fossils with Mr. J. E. Lee, I subse- 

 quently spent a week in breaking up hundreds of pieces of the 

 shale (two cart-loads of which had been procured by Mr. Lee from 

 Waddon-Barton with the permission of Lord Clifford). Out of 

 this I obtained a large number of these Trilobites and other 

 organisms with my own hands, and to this Mr. Eobt. Etheridge 

 has made some additions by splitting up a number of pieces which 

 1 had brought awaj' from Devonshire with me for further examination. 



Out of a series of nearly fifty specimens thus obtained, I have 

 been able to determine four distinct species. They are all in a 

 very fragmentary condition, the individuals varying from 10 

 millimetres in length to 23 mm, and upwards. 



As is the case in other deposits of Carboniferous age, it is most 

 rare to meet with specimens having the head, thorax, and abdomen 

 united. Only two approaching this state have been discovered as 

 yet; the majority disclose evidence of detached pygidia, whilst 

 head-shields and thoi-acic rings are but rarely found. 



Making allowance for the effects of compression and distortion 

 which the specimens have undergone, they are probably all referable 

 to the genus Phillipsia, and strongly resemble in their mode of 

 preservation the specimens of PJiillipsia Colei from Ballintra and 

 Carrickbreeny, Donegal, and of Phillipsia truncatiila from Hook 

 Point, Co. Wexford, Ireland. 



