Vol. 67.] FiUNAL IIOIUZONS IX THE BRISTOL COALFIKLD. 339 



Range of Species. 



The accompanying synopsis (pp. 337-38) comprises the fossil 

 forms from the Bristol Coalfield that have been determined by the 

 writer during recent years. It sh o ws that the Ashton and Bedminster 

 Series of Bristol, the Coalpit-Heath and Parkfield Series of the 

 northern part of the Coalfield, and the Vobster Series of Eadstock 

 which form the basement scries of the Lower Coal-Measures, are 

 all characterized by a fauna agreeing with the typical fauna of 

 the Lower Coal-Measures in the coalfields of the Midlands and 

 of Lancashire and Yorkshire. 



There is, however, a dearth of species of Carbonicola, while the 

 fauna is poor in cephalopods and fishes. Gasteropods are, however, 

 almost as abundant in species as in other coalfields. 



No forms are known from the New Rock Series of the Lower 

 Coal-Measures; but this is probably due rather to lack of opportunity 

 for examining adequately the measures, than to an actual paucity 

 of fossils. The Second or Farrington Series of the Upper Coal- 

 Measures has yielded one brachiopod (Lingida mytiloides), several 

 species of ostracods, four species of Anthracomya, and one fish 

 (Strepsodus sauroides). All the species of Anthracomya found in 

 the Farrington Series, as well as Strepsodus sauroides, also occur 

 in the Lower Coal-Measures. 



Cartacanthus elegans occurs in the First or Upper Radstock Series. 

 Both Strepsodus sauroides and Coelacanihus elegans are typical Lower 

 Coal-Measure forms, which in the Bristol Coalfield pass up much 

 higher in the Coal-Measures than they do elsewhere. 



The tabulation of species establishes, moreover, the fact that 

 marine horizons are not restricted to the Lower Measures, but also 

 occur in the Upper Coal-Measures. 



Similar evidence of the upward range of marine phases in the 

 Coal-Measures has been recently obtained in the Yorkshire Coal- 

 field at Maltby, where Mr. W. H. Dyson 1 found an extensive 

 fauna in four horizons, the lowest being 340 feet above the 

 Barnsley Coal, and the highest occurring 1000 feet below the 

 summit of the Middle Coal-Measures. This marine fauna is essen- 

 tially of the type formerly regarded as restricted to the Lower Coal- 

 Measures, if we except the well-known marine band in the Middle 

 Coal-Measures found by the late Prof. A. H. Green at Dukinfield. It 

 also shows some relation to the marine fauna of the Bristol Coal- 

 field. This is demonstrated by the presence of Lo.vonem a ashton ense 

 in a marine band lying about 709 feet above the Barnsley Coal. 

 This fossil was first described by me from the Ashton - Vale 

 Colliery. Bristol, where it occurs low down in the Lower Coal- 

 Measures. Other forms common to the Bristol and Yorkshire 

 higher measures are Lingula mytiloides and Coel acanthus. The 

 discoveries in the Yorkshire Coalfield emphasize the fact, much 



1 ' The Occurrence of Marine Bands at Maltbv ' Geol. Mag. dec. 5, vol. vii 

 (1910) p. 520. 



