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Spore assemblages have been found in a variety of Middle Old Red Sandstone deposits sampled from several areas in the Orcadian basin, ranging from the south side of the Moray Firth in the south to the Orkney Islands in the north.

• Read more about Middle Old Red Sandstone spore assemblages from the Orcadian basin, north-east Scotland

Dicoelites Boehm (type species Belemnites dicoelus Rothpletz) contains two separate groups of belemnites which have in common only the possession of a dorsal as well as a ventral groove. B. dicoelus, with a slender elongate cylindrical guard, belongs to one group and Dicoelites keeuwensis Boehm, with a short robust conical guard, to the other. In this paper the name Dicoelites is restricted to belemnites of the dicoelus group, to which Stolley has given the name Prodicoelites, and a new genus, Conodicoelites, is proposed for those of the keeuwensis group, with D. keeuwensis as type species.

• Read more about The belemnite genera Dicoelites Boehm and Prodicoelites Stolley

Delops and Struveria, two new genera of trilobites, are defined. Certain species hitherto placed in the genus Dalmanites s.l.are referred to these genera and to the subfamily Zeliszkellinae Delo 1935. The evolutionary relationships are briefly discussed. The following are described: Delops obtusicaudatus (Salter), D. nobilis nobilis (Thomas), D. n. marri subsp. nov., and Struveria howgillensis sp. nov.

• Read more about Two new genera of Silurian phacopid trilobites

Fine growth-ridges on Middle Devonian rugose corals are seen to be grouped into regular bands of about thirty ridges up the length of the epitheca. Several hypotheses on the origin of these bands are discussed. It is concluded that the banding is most probably related to a lunar breeding periodicity and that the Middle Devonian year contained 13 lunar months each of 30 1/2 days.

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Wahlenberg's species Orthoceratites imbricatus is discussed and considered a nomen dubium. The characteristic isolated cameral moulds from the upper part of the Ludlovian (Silurian) of Wales and the Welsh Borderland, which have been commonly referred to this species or to Orthoceras marloense Phillips, are assigned to the genus Leurocycloceras Foerste, under the new specific name L. whitcliffense. The latter species is fully described and problems of the preservation and interpretation of the moulds are discussed.

• Read more about On the nautiloid Leurocycloceras from the Ludlovian of Wales and the Welsh Borderland

Star-shaped trace fossils are described from the Namurian R1 zone of the Loop Head area, West Clare. Their origin and affinities are discussed. They are compared with Asteriacites lumbricalis Schl., a Lias fossil, and interpreted as Ophiuroid resting-traces. They are considered to contribute to the interpretation of the environment of deposition of the rock sequence in which they occur.

• Read more about Starfish traces from the Namurian of County Clare, Ireland

The Visean species Chonetes aspinosa Dun is re-described and is shown to be a typical representative of the genus Delepinea Muir-Wood. A row of cardinal spines is present and it is argued that such spines were normally present on all species of the genus. Details of the internal structure of both valves are given. A new species, D. gloucesterensis, is described from rocks of Middle-Upper Visean age.

• Read more about Two species of Delepinea from New South Wales

Gonyaulacysta scarburghensis nom. nov. is here proposed for Gonyaulax areolata Sarjeant 1961, junior homonym of G. areolata Kofoid and Mitchener 1911. The diagnosis of the species is emended.

• Read more about New name and diagnosis for an Upper Jurassic species of Gonyaulacysta (Dinophyceae)

All the known species of Upper Carboniferous eurypterids appear to have had so similar a dorsal anatomy that they have been thought to belong to one genus which has gone under three names. Of Adelophthalmus Jordan and von Meyer 1854, Lepidoderma Reuss 1855 and Anthraconectes Meek and Worthen 1868, only the last is founded on a specimen showing both the ventral organs (in the holotype) and the dorsal (in the counterpart).

• Read more about The ventral anatomy of the Upper Carboniferous eurypterid Anthraconectes Meek and Worthen

Examination of halysitid corals from the Wenlock Limestone of Shropshire and Worcestershire has revealed a number of colonies with large corallites. These are referred to Cystihalysites, a genus which has not previously been recorded from Britain. Its diagnosis is discussed, and two new species C. westwoodensis and C. blakewayensis are described.

• Read more about The tabulate coral genus Cystihalysites from Wenlock and Dudley