﻿1861.] 



KIRKBY PERMIAN, SOUTH YORKSHIRE. 



311 



Those species with asterisks on their left have been previously 

 noticed by Professors Phillips, Sedgwick, and King, as occurring in 

 Yorkshire. 



It is stated by Prof . Sedgwick that Productus horridus (or P.calvus) 

 was found by him in the " upper thin-bedded limestone " between 

 Nosterfield and Well*. It is very difficult to doubt the observation 

 of Prof. Sedgwick ; but I can scarcely help doing so in the present 

 instance when I consider the utter absence of Brachiopods in all the 

 Upper Permian Beds, not only of England, but of Western Europe 

 generally. 



§ V. Distribution of the Fossils. — This list of fossils contains all 

 that are yet known to occur in the Permian rocks of South Yorkshire. 

 Without including the localities searched by Profs. Sedgwick and 

 Phillips, it represents the result of an examination of not less than 

 twenty fossiliferous localities visited by myself. If we add to these 

 the localities examined by the geologists named, and not visited by 

 me, and consider that they only met with one species which I have 

 not found, I think we may almost conclude that the list given takes 

 in most, if not all, of the common fossils of the district. Nevertheless 

 it is not to be doubted that a more continued search would add to the 

 number of species, and improve our knowledge of them generally. 



It will be apparent enough from this list that fossils are only found 

 in two subdivisions — in the Lower Limestone and the Brotherton 

 Beds. And it will be just as apparent that nearly all the species 

 are confined to the Lower Limestone, only three occurring in the 

 Brotherton Beds. What we know, therefore, of the fossils of the 

 Permian rocks of this district is in the main derived from a single 

 subdivision belonging to the inferior half of the series. 



A. Fossils of the Lower Limestone. — In the Lower Limestone the 

 best localities for fossils are in the oolitic, and what I have termed the 

 polyzoan beds. Eossils are found throughout the whole of the various 

 beds of this member, but are most plentiful, both in species and 

 individuals, in the beds mentioned. They are not, however, well 

 preserved, being in most cases casts merely, those of Hampole being 

 the chief exception. The best localities — those most rich in species 

 and individuals, and where the latter are most finely developed and 

 best preserved — that I had the opportunity of examining are the old 

 quarries at Hampole, Hampole Stubbs, and Moorhouse, the Free- 

 stone Quarry near Brodsworth, and the Holywell Hill Quarries at 

 Conisborough; all of which would certainly repay further examination, 

 and particularly the continued researches of a local geologist. In all 

 localities the Conchifera are generally found in single valves. This 

 holds good with every species of this class f. The Polyzoa too are 



* Trans. Geol. Soc, 2nd ser. vol. iii. p. 108. 



t The dislocation of the valves of fossil Conchifera does not necessarily imply 

 that they were subjected to the action of currents, and probably transported from 

 distant regions prior to their being imbedded in sediment and fossilized. In 

 most cases when a Conchifer dies and its adductor muscles relax, the valves of its 

 shell spring open more or less by the elasticity of the ligament. And should the 

 valves thus remain for a moderate length of time uncovered by sediment, the 

 ligament and fleshy portion of the Mollusk decay, or are otherwise removed, and 



