Correspondence — Mr. 8. G. Perceval 333 



4. Conophrys is probably the same as Shumardia, Billings, and as 

 Battus pusillus, Sars. 



I can say nothing to this, as I have been unable to obtain the 

 published descriptions of the forms referred to. 



Dr. Linnarsson seems to infer from the presence of Conoconjphe 

 monile that the Shineton Shales are Upper Tremadoc. Even if his 

 opinion of the affinities of this species were correct, we could not' 

 ignore the presence of two species of Olenus, of Dictyonema sociale, 

 and of other Cambrian forms. Nor must we overlook the fact that 

 in the Malvern district the Shales with Dictyonema immediately 

 overlie the black Olenus Shales. I think that, with our present 

 evidence, it will be safest to correlate the Shineton Shales with the 

 Lower Tremadoc. I have just had the good fortune to detect them 

 in force between the Longmynd and the Stiper Stones, the higher 

 beds forming the base of the Stiper Stones escarpment. The dip is 

 in the same direction as the overlying Arenigs ; but towards the top 

 of the series (where it grows more arenaceous and flaggy, as in the 

 Shineton area) the beds are contorted and much jointed. I will 

 not venture upon theory on the strength of one hour's work. It is 

 gratifying to find my previous evidence from fossils so cleai'ly con- 

 firmed, and to throw in the teeth of the unbelieving stratigraphists 

 another proof that paleeontology is not quite exploded. 



Wellington, Salop, ifay 9ih, 1878. Chakles Callaway. 



ORTHIS REDUX IN MIDLAND BUNTER PEBBLES. 



Sir, — In reply to the letter of Mr. J. H. Jennings in the May 

 Number of the Geol. Mag. it may interest him to know that the 

 Kev. P. B. Brodie has drawn attention to the occurrence of fossili- 

 ferous pebbles in the drift near Warwick similar to those which 

 occur at Bndleigh Salterton, in the Quart. Journ. of the Geol. Soc. of 

 London, vol. xxiii. (1867), p. 210. 



The Drift of the Midland Counties is mainly composed of the 

 redistributed Bunter Conglomerate, a formation which, as far as the 

 pebbles which it contains are concerned, is lithologically and palse- 

 ontologically identical with the Conglomerate of S. Devon. The 

 stratigraphical position and relation of the two deposits, so far as I 

 have examined them, in both districts appears much the same. 



In the Museum of the Midland Institute is an extensive series of 

 Bunter material, collected from the gravel around Birmingham, 

 which I presented in 1872 to the Birmingham Naturalists' Society, 

 as well as of specimens for purposes of comparison from the Bunter 

 Conglomerate itself. In 1875 I gave a beautiful series of fossili- 

 ferous pebbles to the Jermyn Street Museum, also from the Birming- 

 ham Drift. Ortliis redux is, as at Budleigh, one of the commonest 

 fossils. Spencer George Perceval. 



Henbury, Bristol, Ma^/ 11, 1878. 



WHAT IS AN ERRATIC ? 

 Sir, — Under this title, in your April Number for the current year, 

 my esteemed colleague, Mr. Wynne, argues that I am wrong in 

 restricting the term to fragments which have been transported by 



