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Geological and Polytechnic Society of the West- Riding, a 

 brief sketch of the Fossil Animal ExuvicB of the Yorkshire 

 Coal Field. That the list which will be submitted to you is 

 imperfect I feel fully persuaded, from my not having had the 

 opportunity of ascertaining what the different collections in 

 the neighbourhood contain. But it occurred to me, that 

 if some individual prepared the skeleton of a catalogue, it 

 might be amplified and rendered more complete by those 

 whose information was more extensive, and thus form a 

 synopsis worthy of the attention of a Society whose 

 particular province it is to collect, collate, and register 

 facts especially connected with the local Geology and 

 History of the West Riding of Yorkshire, that being 

 the kind of information which practical Geologists will 

 naturally expect them as a body to supply ; for it is 

 by recording observations though in themselves apparently 

 unimportant, that materials are furnished for more extended 

 and valuable investigations. 



The Coal Field, whose relics we have to consider, extends 

 in length, as is pretty generally known, from Moor Allerton, 

 North of Leeds, to Sheffield, and is there further extended 

 into the adjoining counties of Derbyshire and Nottingham- 

 shire ; its greatest breadth, I believe, is between Halifax 

 and Pontefract, about 20 miles. Throughout this extent 

 of country, there are several distinct Coal seams or beds, 

 which are designated by the name of the locality in which 

 they are principally worked. Thus, the lowest is that 

 worked at Halifax and neighbourhood, at the depth of above 

 200 yards, which extends to Idle, Rawden, Kirkstall, and 

 Moor Allerton, where it crops out at only a few inches in 

 thickness, and is of no use as Coal, or worth working. 

 This seam, above all the others, is peculiarly characterised 

 by some organic remains, which we shall have shortly to 

 allude to. The next in importance above it is the Low 



