﻿6 



A NEW SPECIES OF EDESTUS. 



[vol. lxxii, 



During the excavation of the well no record of the various strata 

 passed through was made hy the sinkers ; but it appears, from 

 notes supplied by Mr. J. R. Simpson, of Banks, Honley, that the 

 rocks were mainly shales, with some thin beds of sandstone. At 

 the depth of 120 feet the specimen of Edestus was obtained by 

 Mr. H. H. Freer in a bed of rock — rather friable shale, — which 

 also contained numerous fragments of marine shells. Among the 

 specimens the following have been identified : — Posidoniella Icevis 

 (Brown), Gastrioceras sp., Glypliioceras reticulatum (Phill.), and 

 Orthoceras cf. aciculare Brown. At the depth of 142 feet was 

 a dark-grey flaggy micaceous shale, crowded with shells which 

 appear identical with Modiola transversa Hind. This shale 

 formed the roof of a 3-inch coal which overlies a hard grey sand- 

 stone. The coal-seam probably corresponds to the thin coal which 

 lies on the top of Grit A in the Huddersfield district. Water was 

 reached at the depth of 163 feet, and the sinking was stopped after 

 being carried down a few feet lower. 



Our thanks are clue to Mr. J. P. Simpson, who brought the 

 discovery of the specimen of Edestus to our notice, and for his 

 kindness in placing his specimens of the associated fauna at the 

 disposal of the Geological Survey. The specimen was presented to 

 the Museum of Practical Geology by Mr. E. Crowther, Managing; 

 Director of Messrs. Joseph Sykes & Co. 



Discussion. 



Dr. A. Stbahan expressed his appreciation of the skill with 

 which the fossil had been developed at the Natural History 

 Museum. He wished also to take the opportunity of acknow- 

 ledging the obligation under which geologists had been laid by 

 Mr. E. Crowther in placing this unicp;e specimen in a National 

 Museum, where it will be studied b}^ specialists from all parts of 

 the world. 



Mr. J. Peingle remarked that it was seldom that so interest- 

 ing a specimen came before the Society, and he congratulated the 

 Fellows on having had the opportunity of hearing Dr. Smith Wood- 

 ward's lucid and illuminating account of this little-known genus. 

 He referred briefly to the geological position of the specimen and 

 to the associated fauna. He had had the opportunity of studying 

 examples of marine shells obtained from the shales which yielded 

 the Edestus. These comprised species of Glypliioceras, Gastrio- 

 ceras, Orthoceras, and Posidoniella. 



Mr. E. T. Newton asked Dr. Smith Woodward whether he 

 could explain how it was that, Avhile in Edestus the base of the 

 tooth seemed to be extended backwards from the crown, in 

 Helicojyrion it was directed forwards. 



Dr. A. Smith Woodwaed agreed with the last speaker that it 

 was difficult to explain the difference in the direction of extension 

 of the tooth in Edestus as compared with Helicoprion. The 

 two forms seemed to have had a distinct origin. 



