34 
YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS* UNION. 
??eport on the Work of the Carboniferous Flora and 
Fauna Committee : — Considerable progress has been made during 
the year, in the work for which the Committee has been appointed. 
Owing to the numerous sinkings and borings now being made near 
Doncaster, Mr. Culpin has been able to continue his valuable 
investigations, and the vertical distribution of a marine fauna in 
the coal measures is now known so well, that the relation of the 
principal marine bands to the Barnsley coal seam can be used 
in any exploration work that may be undertaken in the unproved 
portion of the coalfield. The Committee have pleasure in record- 
ing their obligation to the many mining engineers and coal owners, 
who have not only taken an interest in the work, but have given 
much assistance. It is hoped that there will be opportunities 
in the near future to determine the position of the marine bands 
below the Barnsley seam. The Millstone Grit series is being 
investigated by several workers, and, though the difficulties are 
great, sound progress is being made. The Lower Carboniferous 
Rocks between, and North of, the Craven Faults, have now been 
zoned, and the broad lines of the faunal distribution determined. 
The sequence described by Dr. Vaughan in the Avon Section, 
and afterwards confirmed in South Wales, has been found to hold 
good in X.W. Yorks. A small faulted mass of Tournasian age 
occurs near Sedbergh, and this represents the oldest Carboniferous 
Rocks known to occur in Yorkshire. They are much lower in 
the sequence than the calcareous conglomerate at the base of 
the Great Scar Limestone of Ingletondale. They rest on a great 
thickness of Red Conglomerate, which was considered by the 
Survey Officers to be " Basement Carboniferous," though coloured 
red on the geological maps. This correlation has not been con- 
firmed by the writer, who, from the absence of fossils in, and the 
very different lithological character of, this striking conglomerate 
with its ferruginous matrix and dull red colour, has felt it necessary 
to exclude it from the Carboniferous system. It is very probable 
that the conclusions of the older geologists that it represented 
some stage of the Old Red Sandstone, is more correct, and this 
seems to be the opinion of Professor MacKenny Hughes. It 
is hoped that the results of the work on the Lower Carboniferous 
Rocks will be communicated early next year. C. J. 
Dr. Kidston writes : — " I have been unable to complete 
another Report. I have the material for one, and will endeavour 
to have it for our next Annual Meeting: Much valuable material 
has been slowly passing through my hands from Yorkshire, which 
will include, I think, several additions to the Yorkshire Coal 
Flora." 
