On the crinoids from the Lower Carboniferous limestones of Invertial, Fife

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In the Carboniferous rocks of Fife, there are many beds of limestone composed principally of the remains of crinoids, but, as in other parts of Scotland, it is an extremely rare event indeed to find a perfect specimen preserved. Nevertheless, there are some places in Fife characterised by beds of limestone and shale which contain cups and other good determinable remains, the study of which may yet help to a better understanding of this interesting group of organisms. No locality in this county, however, can be compared with the one to be described, which stands pre-eminent as a rich storehouse of crinoid cups and other relics of a crinoidal fauna. The quarry of Invertiel—or Innerteil, as the older records spell it—is situated to the immediate west of the town of Kirkcaldy, and has now been disused for many years. As a working quarry it was probably visited by many geologists in days gone by, and its weathered heaps must have provided them with a rich harvest. No systematic collecting seems, however, to have been carried on, and this is all the more to be regretted, as to-day there are no heaps, the quarry refuse having been used up in recent years as ballast for a railway near at hand. So far as can be seen from the records, some of the early writers mention Invertiel1 chiefly for stratigraphical reasons, yet it is strange that no particular notice seems to have been taken of its crinoids, even in later years, for,

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: