Vol. 60.] EOSCOBPIUS SPAETHEXSIS FROM LANCASHIRE. 3i »-* 



So interesting an addition to the numerous forms of arthropoda 

 from the Upper Carboniferous rocks of England deserves to be made 

 known as widely as possible, in order to stimulate a greater number 

 of geologists in the neighbourhood of coalfields to pay more attention 

 to splitting clay-ironstone nodules, by which means they may perhaps 

 increase our knowledge of the terrestrial air-breathing animals of 

 the Carboniferous Period. 



In conclusion we should like to express our thanks to Dr. B. X. 

 Peach, F.R.S., for his kind examination of the scorpion ; to Dr. A. 

 Smith Woodward, F.R.S., and Dr. F. A. Bather, who allowed one 

 of us every facility to compare personally the specimen with 

 Eoscorpius anr/licus and Eobuthus raJcovnicensis in the British 

 Museum (Natural History) ; to Mr. li. I. Pocock, who gave much 

 valuable advice on the partial restoration of the animal ; and to 

 Mr. S. S. Piatt, F.G.S., for particulars of the strata cut through 

 by the Sparth-Bottoms Colliery-shaft, which enabled us to show 

 more detail in the section (fig. 1, p. 395) than we otherwise could 

 have done. 



Discussion. 



Dr. Bather congratulated the Authors on their find of an 

 interesting and well-preserved fossil. He would be glad to hear 

 on what characters they relied for their statement that it was 

 distinctly a new species. The other fragments exhibited appeared 

 to belong to arthropods, possibly Merostomata. 



Prof. P. F. Kendall, in adding his congratulations to those of the 

 previous speaker, complimented the Authors on the careful manner 

 in which they were working up these deposits, which were shown 

 to include three arthropod-horizons. He asked whether the Authors 

 had studied the beds above the Arley-Mine seam in other localities, 

 and cited an exposure of beds of similar age in the Irwell Valley 

 where air-breathing arthropods had been found. 



Mr. Baldwin thanked the Fellows, on Mr. SutcliftVs & his own 

 behalf, for the kind way in which they had received the paper. 

 In reply to Dr. Bather, he said that the Authors relied principally 

 on the dimensions of the hand and post-abdominal segments in 

 describing the scorpion as a new species. The new species, viewed 

 as a whole, was of a more graceful and slender build than any of 

 the other Carboniferous species. Replying to Prof. Kendall, he said 

 that the beds at Sparth Bottoms were the only beds in the district 

 that were being properly worked by the Authors, in which they had 

 found remains of arthropoda ; they had no doubt that at other places 

 on the same horizon arthropodan remains would be discovered, as 

 specimens of Merostomata had been obtained at Glodwick, near 

 Oldham. He was not aware that arthropoda had been found near 

 Burv, in Lancashire. 



