Page:VCH Worcestershire 1.djvu/57

 PALAEONTOLOGY TO the student of the past history of vertebrate life Worcestershire is lacking in the interest which attaches to many English counties, since it possesses no peculiar extinct vertebrate fauna of its own. Indeed, vertebrate remains of any description are comparatively rare within the limits of the county ; this being to some extent accounted for by the circumstance that many of the Worcester- shire formations were laid down at a period when vertebrates had not yet made their appearance, while others were deposited when fishes seem to have been the highest type in existence. Perhaps the greatest pal^ontological interest in the county is centred in the circumstance that within its borders are found some of the oldest fossils in England, several of which were first determined from Worcester- shire specimens. These oldest fossils occur in the Hollybush Sandstone of the Malvern Hills, which belong to the upper division of the Cambrian epoch. The species known are comparatively few in number, and all indicate low types of invertebrate life ; with the exception of worm-tracks, they are comparatively rare, and require much patience to find. Certain transversely wrinkled or plaited flexible tubes, which are usually found crossing the strata obliquely or vertically, have been regarded as indicating tube-dwelling worms, or annelids, for which the name Trachyderma antiquissimum has been proposed. Other tubes of a smoother type of structure have been described as Serpulites fistula, and apparently indicate a second type of marine tube-dwelling worms. The brachiopods, or lamp-shells, were represented by several small forms. Most of these pertain to totally extinct genera, but the minute Lingula {Lingulella) squamosa belongs to a genus still existing in modern seas. The fossil form (which is distinguished by the presence of a groove in the beak) is very minute, but the existing type, which is a flattened bivalve triangular shell of a green colour and horny consistence, with a flexible stem for attachment, attains a couple of inches in length. An allied family is represented by Kutorgina cingulata, a species common to the Upper Cambrian of Canada ; the genus Kutorgina differing from the nearly related Oholella by the straight hinge-line.' In the overlying black Malvern shales the same species of Kutorgina occurs, but the Lingula was distinguished by Dr. HoU as L. pygmaa. ^ The Hollybush species is described by Dr. H. B. Holl in the Quart. Journ. Geo/. Soc, vol. xxi. p. 89, as Oholella phillipsi ; the other fossils from this horizon being mentioned in the same paper. 27