XII.—Scottish Carboniferous Ostracoda

Abstract

The first known fossil Ostracoda were collected by the Rev. David Ure from the Carboniferous Limestone of East Kilbride. In 1793 he figured his specimens, describing them merely as “microscopic shells.” Some years later Dr S. Hibbert (1836) described and figured as Cypris scotoburdigalensis some Ostracoda he had collected from the Burdiehouse Limestone near Edinburgh. The most important work on this group of fossils was done by T. R. Jones. In 1866, together with J. W. Kirkby, he gave a short account of previous research, and from 1855 until 1901 published a large number of papers, either alone or in collaboration with J. W. Kirkby, H. B. Holl and others, mainly in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. In 1927 Dr Hopkins used an ostracod bed for correlation purposes in the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield, and in 1931 W. B. Wright observed that the ostracods show a definite succession of forms. A new species described by Wright as Cytherella foveolata occurs at the top of the Pulchra Zone and may be of zonal significance since it has not so far been recognised in any other horizon.