﻿vol. 66.~\ derbyshire and nottinghamshire coalfield. 335 



Vetacapsula. 

 (PI. XXIV, fig. 5 : PL XXV, figs. 3 & 4; & PI. XXVI, fig. 1.) 



A single example of a very rare fossil, evidently allied to 

 Palceoxyris, — Vetacapsula cooperi (Mackie & Crocker), — was found 

 at Newthorpe Claypit. Mr. E. J. Mackie 1 prints a very meagre 

 description of his specimen, promising to give at a later date a 

 more detailed account in conjunction with Mr. C. "W. Crocker. 

 No further description having been found, it is probable that 

 Mr. Mackie did not go farther into the matter. A short note by 

 the same author (op. cit. p. 216) reports the finding of a similar 

 fossil in the Coal Measures of Dudley, by Mr. J. C. Capewell, and, 

 incidentally, reveals the fact that the locality from which the 

 type-specimen was obtained is not known, and that it is presumed 

 to have come from the Coal Measures from the appearance of the 

 ironstone nodule in which it was contained. 



The woodcut accompanying the description is fairly clear. It 

 shows a broad pedicle expanding into a more or less regular oval 

 body, which tapers gradually at the upper end into what is pre- 

 sumably a beak, the apex of which, however, is not shown in the 

 specimen. There is a crumpling or deformity at about the centre 

 of the body, as in Palaioxyris. Mr. Mackie notices a vertical 

 suture down the middle ; this, however, may well be due to accidental 

 crushing. His description, with measurements, is as follows : — 



' Vetacapsula Cooperi — flower-bud or seed-vessel — length, 3 inches apex to 

 base; width, as on stone, l 5 inches — divided by a central vertical suture: 

 ribbings ^ inch broad in the middle, tapering at both ends, about 26 ? in each 

 hemisphere.' 



The Newthorpe specimen (PI. XXV, fig. 4), exposed on the 

 surface of a large flat ironstone-nodule, is very perfect. It shows 

 a relatively broad pedicle, the terminal moiety of which is still 

 embedded in the matrix, composed of fine bands running vertically 

 in the long axis of the fossil. The pedicle expands suddenly into 

 the body, thus forming a characteristic rounded shoulder in the 

 contour of the body at its lower third, and imparting to the body, in 

 its present compressed state, a shape somewhat like that of a conven- 

 tional heart inverted. The body is about 4-7 cm. long and 5-6 cm. 

 broad, and twenty-six segments can be counted across it. There is 

 a crumpling or deformity of the segments in the lower third. The 

 body gradually tapers into the beak, which is more than 5*5 cm. 

 long; the actual termination of the beak is not shown, but appears 

 to have been a sharp point. 



The counting of the number of bands or segments which go to 

 make up this organism is, in its compressed state, a matter of 

 great difficulty. By making a plasticine model with a diameter 

 exactly the width of the specimen on the stone, and marking on this 



1 'Geol. & Nat. Hist, Repertory ' vol. i (1865-C7) pp. 79-80. 



