﻿330 DB. L. MOYSEY ON PALCEOXYRIS FKOM THE [Aug. I9IO, 



the Coal Measures of Illinois. Under P. prendeli he figured two 

 specimens (op. cit. pi. xxvii, figs. 10 & 12), one of which, judging 

 from the figure, should be placed under Palceoxyris lielicteroides 

 (Morris). Another, Paloeoxyris corrugata (loc. cit. fig. 13), might 

 easily be a distorted specimen of either P. prendeli or P. helicteroides* 

 His Palceoxyris appendiculata (loc. cit. fig. 11) is probably P. carbo- 

 naria, Schimper. Should this be so, his three forms would then be 

 the same as the species most commonly met with in the European 

 Coal Measures, thus showing a remarkably wide distribution in 

 space of identical species of a certainly rare fossil. 



The same author, in the ' Coal Flora of Pennsylvania/ * notes the 

 discovery of other examples in that coalfield ; but he makes use of 

 the old figures in illustration of them, adding, however, a figure 

 and description of another species, Sjnrangiwn midtiplicatum, 2 from 

 an example which is in a very bad state of preservation. 



Since that date there has been, apparently, no literature on the 

 subject, except a short note by Mr. W. H. SutclifTe on Palceoxyris 

 prendeli? Many examples (about twenty-two) have been obtained 

 from Shipley Manor Claypit, near Ilkeston, Derbyshire (horizon : 

 Top Hard Coal), where has also been found an extraordinary number 

 of other fossils, both vegetable and animal. There is, however, 

 reason to think that the Derbyshire Coalfield in general is very 

 prolific in these organisms, as they have been found in ironstone 

 nodules from many claypits scattered all over the district. But they 

 seem to be confined to the upper beds of the Middle Coal Measures, 

 none having, so far, been discovered below the Deep Soft Coal. 

 This may be due, in some measure, to lack of opportunity to search 

 for them, as very few openings in the lower part of the Middle Coal 

 Measures are to be found in this district — the majority of the brick- 

 pits being opened in the clays in the immediate vicinity of the 

 Top Hard Coal. A careful search in the beds in the neighbourhood 

 of the Kilburn Coal (that is, the lowest beds of the Middle Coal 

 Measures) has failed to reveal any. In other districts, however, 

 Dr. Kidston has obtained Paloeoxyris helicteroides in the Lower 

 Coal Measures of Scotland ; Mr. Walter Baldwin, of Rochdale, 

 has found an uncompressed example of Palceoxyris sp. in the Mill- 

 stone Grit ; and two specimens of Palceoxyris prendeli have lately 

 been obtained from the Sparth Bottoms Claypit, Rochdale (horizon : 

 Arley Mine Coal = lower beds of the Middle Coal Measures). 



There are four other localities in the Derbyshire and Notting- 

 hamshire coalfield where Palceoxyris is very plentiful: — (1) Meadow 

 Lane Claypit, Alfreton (horizon : Waterloo Coal), where several 

 have been found in a small opening, which is practically barren of 

 other fossils ; (2) Brindsley Claypit, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire 

 (horizon : Combe Coal, above the Top Hard Coal) ; (3) Newthorpe 

 Claypit, near Eastwood (horizon : well below the Top Hard Coal) ; 



1 2nd Geol. Surv. Penn. Rep. Progress P, vol. ii (1880) p. 519 & pi. lxxr, 

 figs. 13-15 a. 



2 Ibid.&g. 11. 



3 ' Lancashire Naturalist ' July 1909. 



