8 SHELVE DISTRICT 



Shelve rocks with the standard Anglo-Welsh succession. However, taxa which also occur in 

 Bohemia and Morocco generally appear earlier in the Shropshire successions and do not assist 

 in precise correlation with either region. 



I. INTRODUCTION 



This paper is primarily a systematic study of Ordovician brachiopods collected by 

 the late Professor W. F. Whittard with the assistance of Mr T. R. Fry during an 

 investigation of the rocks of W. Shropshire that lasted for more than 30 years. Over 

 that period, he amassed an unprecedented number of brachiopods, trilobites, 

 graptolites and miscellaneous invertebrates. The brachiopod collection alone, which 

 is mainly composed of moulds, includes over 3000 specimens well enough preserved 

 to provide statistical information and about half as many identifiable, albeit in- 

 complete, impressions. In fact the collection is not only a tribute to the patience, 

 acute observation and indefatigable energies of Professor Whittard and his assistants, 

 but also a measure of his brilliance as a systematist. Thus when the specimens, all 

 clearly numbered, arrived in the Queen's University of Belfast in 1962, they were so 

 unambiguously documented in relation to his field maps that after his untimely 

 death in 1966 only a few score could not be precisely assigned to a locality, although 

 the stratigraphic horizon of each was accurately known. Almost invariably, 

 therefore, it has been possible to supplement Whittard's original directions and 

 measurements (given in yards) for the identification of fossiliferous localities by 

 citing National Grid references, which indicate position within the kilometre squares 

 of the Ordnance Survey maps. Indeed only two unlocated specimens have been 

 described and figured in the present systematic account, and although this has been 

 done because the specimens are unique, they have not been made the types of any 

 new taxa. 



The systematic study itself was begun in 1965. But for various reasons it was 

 discontinued until recently, when it became evident that such a protracted delay 

 in publication of a description of the collection was gravely detrimental to our 

 understanding of British Ordovician palaeogeography and hence of subduction 

 zones of ancient continental plates. In a regional context, the work may be regarded 

 as a supplement to Whittard's own scholarly monographs on the Ordovician tri- 

 lobites of W. Shropshire. Together with Dr W. T. Dean's forthcoming publication 

 of a geological map of the Shelve area based on Whittard's field studies, and Dr I. 

 Strachan's identification of the graptolitic assemblages, they give a much more 

 comprehensive and detailed assessment of the Ordovician stratigraphy and palaeont- 

 ology of the Shelve area than ever before. 



The collection was given to the writer by Professor Whittard in expectation that 

 it would ultimately find its way to one of the national repositories where it could be 

 adequately housed and curated. Consequently, all specimens, except for a few lost 

 in the preparation of rock sections, have been donated to the Department of 

 Palaeontology of the British Museum (Natural History) : their registered numbers, 

 lying in the ranges BB 35305-35600 and BB 37107-37162, are given. 



