﻿J. E. Lee — Saltern and Budesheim Fossils. 101 



Though the following notice may be very scanty, yet every well- 

 founded attempt to correlate the beds palaeontologically is worth 

 something ; and under this impression it may be desirable to place 

 on record the following facts. 



All the old geological maps of the Torbay district colour a portion 

 of the ground near the middle of the bay as Old Red Sandstone. Dr. 

 Holl, in his amended map of 1868 (Quarterly Journal, Nov. 1868), 

 divides this " Old Red " into two parts — the " Lower South Devon " 

 or the slates, etc., under the middle limestone, and the "Upper South 

 Devon " or those above it ; and he makes the first or the Lower South 

 Devon (of which the Mudstone shales are a type) to touch the shore 

 near or in Saltern Co've. These red shales, however, are tilted up 

 at rather a sharp angle, and are covered unconformably by the nearly 

 horizontal beds of Exeter conglomerate, so that this fact alone 

 renders it very improbable that they are the same as the Mudstone 

 shales, and the following evidence from fossils seems to confirm this. 



For some time Goniatites have been known to have been found 

 here, but they are exceedingly local ; ^ in fact, so much so that, 

 notwithstanding repeated seai'ches, 1 never could discover them till 

 my friend, Capt. Bedford, R.N., of Paignton, and a young geologist, 

 a friend of his, directed me where to look. The space where they 

 are found appears very limited, but still we soon secured a number 

 of small Goniatites and a few other shells. From the very first the 

 appearance of these "Goniatites reminded me strongly of those 

 found in such abundance in the well-known beds of shale at 

 Biidesheim in the Eifel, where a friend and I had worked in. 

 1875, and where, in the course of a few hours, we were fortunate 

 enough to secure a large number. It need hardly be said with what 

 pleasure we discovered at Saltern the well-known minute shell 

 Cardium palmatum, almost, if not entirely, characteristic of the 

 German shale at Budesheim, and this discovery was followed by 

 others, so that, before the day was finished, we obtained from this 

 very limited locality some eight or ten species apparently identical 

 with those found at Biidesheim. I have determined the following 

 species as occurring at both places.* (See Plate V.) 

 Orthoceras 8chlotheimi, Quenst. 1 Goniatites Gerolsteinus, Stein. 



■ primordialiSy Quenst. 



sp. (near to auris). 



Pluerotomaria turbinea, Stein. 

 Cardium palmatum. 



Goniatites auris, Quenst. 



retrorsus, Quenst. 



Ausavensis, Stein. 



prumiensis, Stein. 



These facts appear to me of great interest, and though I dare not 

 say that the occurrence of these eight or ten species in the two 

 localities absolutely identify the beds of Saltern Cove with those of 

 Budesheim, yet the evidence goes a long way in this direction, and a 

 further close investigation is highly desirable. 



1 In order to indicate the place more clearly, it may be well to state that Saltern 

 Cove consists of a larger bay to the south and a very small one to the north. The 

 place where these fossils are found is to the north of the extreme point of the 

 headland dividing' these two bays. 



2 Mr. H enry Woodward, who has examined these specimens and compared them 

 with those from Budesheim, concurs in these determinations. 



