272 THE MOE.TE SLATES AND ASSOCIATED BEDS. [May 1 896, 



second part of the paper before they were definitely accepted as 

 such. 



Mr. H. B. Woodwaed remarked that the Devonian system had 

 always suffered from being founded on zoological characters without 

 clearly defined strati graphical evidence. The Author's paper should 

 be studied in conjunction with the excellent work of Dr. Hinde and 

 Mr. Howard Eox on the radiolarian rocks, which were probably 

 of the age of our Yoredale Beds. The precise equivalents of 

 the lowermost Carboniferous in Devon were not established, and 

 there had been no base to the Devonian system. For the sequence 

 of Devonian faunas we had to take the divisions made in Germany ; 

 and as it was not clear that the base of the Carboniferous there was 

 the same as that in this country, it might be questioned whether 

 the continued use of the term 'Devonian ' was justified. Agreeing 

 that the subdivisions in Devon must be worked out by their 

 fossils, he hoped that in so complicated a region the species would 

 be identified solely from their zoological characters, while the best 

 basis for such detailed work was an independent 6-inch survey of 

 the area. 



Mr. Hopkinson said that he had examined numerous specimens 

 collected by the Author which bear a general resemblance to grapto- 

 lites, and of which he exhibited drawings made under the micro- 

 scope. Some of these might not be organic, others might be worm- 

 tracks or encrinite-stems, or impressions of other organisms, but he 

 felt certain that there were graptolites among them ; they were, 

 however, in so bad a state of preservation that it was impossible 

 to identify them. He believed that most of the graptolites belonged 

 to the genus Monograptus, and therefore were of Silurian age, but 

 that Ordovician genera also occurred, showing that the rocks from 

 which they had been obtained were of different horizons. Some of 

 the branching forms were probably Cladophora, belonging to the 

 genus Dendrograptns. He could not believe it possible that 

 mineral matter could simulate, as suggested by Prof. Hughes, such 

 forms as he then drew on the blackboard, one being typical of the 

 Monograptus Sedgwickii group (having long curved denticles), and 

 another resembling a scalariform impression of a Climacograptus 

 (with transverse oval cell-apertures). He hoped that specimens 

 would be obtained in a sufficiently perfect state of preservation to 

 enable them to be specifically identified, dispelling all doubt as to 

 their nature. 



The Authok said that he would reserve his reply until the second 

 part of the paper is read, when evidence will be presented which 

 will clear up many points referred to in the discussion. There can be 

 no doubt that the Morte Slates, in their lithological characters and 

 in their fossil contents, are entirely unlike the surrounding Devonian 

 rocks. 



