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, hut 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. About the period, 
or perhaps a little before the time Mr. Teale read his paper to the 
Society, my 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 happily 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 
