THE 



QUARTERLY JOURNAL 



OF 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



Vol. LX. 



1. On the Occurrence of Edestus in the Coal-Measures of Britain. 

 By Edwin Tulley Newton, Esq., F.R.S., V.P.G.S. 1 (Read 

 November 18th, 1903.) 



[Plate I.] 



The presence of marine beds in the Coal-Measures of North Stafford- 

 shire was first made known by Mr. J. Ward [l], 2 of Longton, in 

 1865; but their occurrence in other districts had already been 

 observed by the officers of the Geological Survey [2 & 3J. 



These marine bands are chiefly met with during the sinking of 

 shafts ; and Mr. J. T. Stobbs, F.G.S., of Stoke-on-Trent, has for some 

 time past been studying those that occur in ]N orth Staffordshire. It 

 is due to the vigilant observations of that gentleman, and to the 

 assistance of the pupils of his mining class, that these beds are 

 found to occur with much greater frequency than has hitherto been 

 supposed. 



Mr. Stobbs very courteously called the attention of the Geological 

 Survey to one of these marine bands, found at about 18 yards 

 below the ' Twist Coal,' in the Smallthorne sinking of Messrs. Robert 

 Heath & Son's pits at Nettlebank (North Staffordshire). 



An interesting series of fossils has been found in the shales and 

 impure limestones brought to bank from this particular band ; and 

 with the permission of the colliery-owners, the fossil-collector of 

 the Geological Survey, Mr. J. Pringle, went to Smallthorne to secure 

 & series of these fossils. Among the specimens thus obtained, 

 there is one which calls for special notice, as it establishes for 

 the first time the occurrence in Britain of the remarkable genus of 

 fishes known as Edestus. This genus was originally described 



■ Communicated by permission of the Director of H.M. Geological Survey. 

 a These numbers in square brackets throughout the paper refer to the 

 bibliographical list on p. 7. 



Q. J. G. S. No. 237. b 



