Vol. 68.] IN THE NOETH-WEST OP ENGLAND. 583 



Dr. Yattghan congratulated the Author on so successful a" 

 termination to his protracted labours, on the thoroughness of his 

 work, and on the well-balanced presentation of the many facts of 

 interest. The sequence in and above the ' Michelinia Bed ' of 

 Arnside and above the '■ pseudovermiculare bed' of Brigsteer, near 

 Kendal, appeared to agree exactly with the sequence from C^ 

 through S and D in the type-Province. Considering the very small 

 total thickness from the base of the ' pseudovermiculare bed ' to the 

 base of S^ at Brigsteer ; and remembering also that white oolite, 

 similar to that above the bed, occurred at the top of C^, not only 

 at many points of the South- Western Province, but also in Belgium 

 and Northern Prance, it seemed unlikely that the 'pseudovermiculare 

 bed' itself could lie beneath C^. Below this bed, at Brigsteer, 

 occurred no great thickness of dolomite, but the Author had pre- 

 sented a very different picture of his type-sections at Bavenstonedale 

 and Shap. Here there was some 1200 feet of more or less dolomitic 

 rock — rivalling the Grande Dolomie of J^amur — from which, by 

 dint of oft-repeated attacks, he had obtained a most valuable series 

 of brachiopods. Lastly, in regard to the ' Spirifer-pinskeyensis 

 Beds,' a further scrap of evidence favouring the suggestion made 

 by the Author that these beds were Devonian, was the fact that 

 Spirifers possessing a similar type of ribbing, combined with the 

 peculiar mesial fold, were common only in Devonian rocks (compare 

 Sp. oweni Hall and Sp. gramdosus Conrad — both from the Hamilton 

 Beds of North America). It might therefore be that, at Eavenstone- 

 dale, deposits were only interrupted from the latest Devonian to 

 early Zaphrentis time : at Brigsteer the gap was greater. 



Mr. B. G. Carruthers remarked on the great interest of this 

 important paper. Not the least interesting of the many points 

 raised lay in the instance cited of a transgression of faunal across 

 lithic lines, as shown by the relationship of the Michelinia Beds 

 to the Ashfell Sandstone. Correlation with standard areas was, to 

 some extent difficult, owing to the difference of faunal facies. 

 Nevertheless, such a fact was of great interest to the evolutionist, 

 as it gave hope that in this northern tract gaps might be filled in 

 the life-history of certain gentes, of which hitherto we possessed 

 very imperfect knowledge. 



The assignment of the lowest beds to horizon y was supported 

 by the statement that the Zaphrenfis-JconincTci Bed lay some 

 1200 feet above this base. There were strong reasons for con- 

 sidering that this species was, genetically, short-lived, and the 

 assemblage found in Bavenstonedale was of practically the same 

 evolutionary standard as that found in C., of the South-Western 

 Province. 



Mr. J. Allen Howe welcomed the paper, and said that he was 

 particularly struck with the evidence that the Author had ob- 

 tained of the important development of algae ; he was strongly of 

 opinion that this group of organisms had often played a large part 

 in the formation of some of the Carboniferous limestones: its 

 significance had been rather overlooked. 



