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Note On Some Fossiliferous Clay, at Wolverhampton.
By the Rev. H. W. Crosskey, F.G.S.
Some time ago I received an ounce or two of clay, which had been found in excavating a drain at Wolverhampton. On examination it yielded the following fauna:—
Foraminifera.
Polystomella crtspa.Polpymorphina lactea.
Mr. H, B. Brady (who kindly examined the specimens) informs me that they are typical forms, fay too widely distributed for anything positive as to habitat to be said about them, but that the chances are they belonged to a starved, shallow water marle fauna. They are more probably starved with cold rather than fresh water; and Mr. Brady would "guess" them Arctic rather than brackish.
Mollusca.
Tellina balthica.—Fragments.
Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys obligingly examined these fragments, and states that "they must belong to Tellina balthica, because of their fleshy and loose calcareous texture," On the card to which I had affixed the fragments Mr. Jeffreys detected the minute portion of a univalve, which (he states) is "petrified and probably Liassic, being derived;" and refers to the paper by the Rev. W. Lister, "On the Drift, containing Recent Shells, in the neighbourhood of Wolverhampton, published in the "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," Vol. XVIII, p. 159. In this paper it is noted that in the drift at Bushbury Junction rolled shells and other fossils, derived from Liassic rocks, such as Gayphæa, Ammonites, Cardinia, and Belemnites, accompany Nassa reticulata, Turvitella communis, Purpura lapillus, Litterina squalida, Astarte Arctica, Cardium edule, Tellina solidula, and Cyprina Islandica.
Of these species, two are decidedly Arctic, viz., Astarte Arctica and Litterina squalida, but the others are common to British and Arctic waters.
Echineodermata.
Echinus ——? Two species.
These spines are too worn for the species to be determinable, but undoubtedly they are spines of an Echinoderm.
Dr. Jeffreys remarks generally upon the specimens submitted to him by Mr. Lister—"It is possible that these shells may have been carried off with the pebbles from a beach in the Arctic regions by an iceberg, which, after traversing a considerate distance in the glacial sea, may have stranded or melted and deposited its load in the spot, where the shells and pebbles had now been found. The present data are, however, insufficient to enable me to form any opinion on this point."
The specimens wow recorded do not enable any more decided opinion to be given. If not in situ, they must have been in the wand determined with the stones and boulders brought down by one of the numerous icebergs which stranded in this district. In either case, however, they add to the proof of the submergence of the Midland area during the last great geological epoch, and encourage us to hope that other shell beds may yet be found.