THE GEOLOGIST. 



55 



that my readers should be so captivated with these remains as myself, 

 for there is a peculiar interest felt by all those who conduce to any new 

 discovery ; and the more any science is studied the more fascinating it 

 becomes, particularly if we have been led into it by an intimate know- 

 ledge of its mysteries from actual observation. Having had no guide 

 amid some of the labyrinths in which I found myself involved, I have 

 been led to mark my footsteps more carefully and studiously, and it is 

 only by such careful procedure that we may expect to arrive at any 

 satisfactory conclusions. 



In the year 1839 Mr. Teale, an eminent surgeon and naturalist of Leeds, 

 read a paper before the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society on 

 the identification of strata by the remains of fish contained in the car- 

 boniferous system of the Yorkshire coal fields. He concluded that the 

 Middleton bed, about five miles from Wakefield, was not identical 

 with the Lofhouse Seam, but that a thin band of imperfect coal was 

 identical with the Halifax beds, and he came to this conclusion because 

 they both contained a bivalve shell of the Pecten character. He 

 endeavoured to stimulate geologists and coal-owners to a further ex- 

 amination of the fish coal strata, but I do not find that any further 

 discoveries have been made since that period, with the exception of what 

 I am about to relate. 



It may be thought by some that T am going to establish some little 

 renown for my own observations, but facts may be allowed publicity iu 

 a matter which concerns the geologist and naturalist. A.bout the period, 

 or perhaps a little before the time Mr. Teale read his paper to the 

 Society, m)^ attention had been led to a pit near Stanley, about a mile 

 or more from Wakefield, near to which I found, on the embankment 

 formed by the material thrown up in sinking the shaft, some indications of 

 the fish structure, and was so fortunate as to find a scale or two and a 

 tooth : from the small amount of material through which the shaft had 

 been sunk, I was unable to collect much, but a few small specimens of 

 bone were added to my scanty stock. My attention was, however, I 

 may say happil}- directed this year to the similarity of material 

 previously found to a more considerable portion thrown up and exposed 

 to the day in the construction of the Leeds, Wakefield, and Bradford 

 railway, and on further examination I found certain indications of fish 

 remains ; but I had then no idea of the field now opened, or about to be 

 opened to view. In my first attempt this year I was gratified in finding 



