Vol. 58.] ASSOCIATED BEDS OF THE MALVERN HILLS, LOL 
which are referable to Protospongia fenestrata, Salt. These are 
accompanied by numerous flat, and sometimes striated, carbonaceous. 
markings, possibly of vegetable origin; a single imperfect specimen 
of a finely-striated species of Agnostus was also obtained. Brachio- 
poda are fairly abundant, and the following have been identified by 
Mr.C. A. Matley:—Many examples of Acrotreta(?) Sabrine, var. mal- 
vernensis nov. (figs. 11-14, p. 143); a few specimens of Kutorgina 
cingulata, var. pusilla, Lnrs. (figs. 19 & 20, p. 147); and a single 
example very doubtfully referred to Lingulella Nicholsona, Call. 
These shales and grits may be regarded as constituting the zone 
of Polyphyma. ‘The fossils are most abundant towards the middle 
of the zone, above, below, and between the grits; and very few 
have been obtained in the upper layers. 
The Lower Black Shales are actually exposed only in the 
village of White-Leaved Oak and in the fields immediately to the 
north-west, where they have served for many years as the chief 
hunting-ground for collectors. They are well exposed along the 
footpath leading from the village to Fowlet Farm (M222); here 
they commonly dip north-eastward at a high angle. No interbedded 
igneous rocks are seen in the shales near the village, which are of a 
deep bluish-black colour. Bands in these shales have afforded almost 
uniformly in abundance the following :—Spherophthalmus alatus, 
Boeck,’ and Ctenopyge bisulcata, Phill.; less common are Peltura 
scarabceoides, Wahlenberg?; Ctenopyge pecten, Salt., and Ct. 
flagellifer, Ang.? Still more rare are Lingula(?) pygmea, Holl, 
and Obolella(?) Salteri, Holl. In the field to the north-east, close to 
the junction of the Black Shales with the Hollybush Sandstone, 
further exposures (M 2227) have afforded many specimens of 
Spherophthalmus alatus and Cienopyge bisulcata; also a few of 
Péeltura scarabeoides, together with Ctenopyge flagellifera or Ct. pecten. 
The fauna is thus similar to that seen along the footpath below ; 
and if these beds, together with those of the old pit be included, the 
Lower Black Shales must be some 250 feet thick. 
The Upper White-Leaved-Oak Igneous Band consists 
largely of olivine-basalts interbanded with dark shales, which are 
often bleached white, or indurated by the action of the igneous rocks. 
The shales of the series are best exposed in the road at White-Leaved 
Oak, in the lane leading southward from the village, and along the 
footpath to Fowlet Farm at some distance from the village. Tri- 
lobites are mentioned by Symonds as occurring in the baked shales 
of the last-mentioned locality *; and I have obtained an abundance 
of Spherophthalmus alatus, together with Ctenopyge sp., from the 
débris of Black Shales (M 218) on the ridge constituting the north- 
eastern boundary of the ‘ Valley of White-Leaved Oak.’ The frag- 
ments here include pieces of a remarkable dark-grey shelly limestone 
* Olenus humilis, Phillips, is a synonym of this species. 
* Conocephalus malvernianus, Phillips, is a synonym of this species. 
3 * Old Stones’ 2nd ed. (1884) p. 30. 
