Continental trace fossils and museum exhibits - Geological Curators ...

years since such material was first exhibited by theWNHAS, as well as representative invertebrate traces.AcknowledgementsJohn Pollard (University of Manchester) and GeoffreyTresise (Liverpool Museum) are thanked for providingunpublished information on Triassic trace fossils andcommenting on an early version of this paper. WendySimkiss (Liverpool Museum) kindly supplied copiesof photographs from the Beasley Archive. SteveDonovan (Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum,Leiden) is thanked for encouragement and furtherinstructive comments.Figure 8. Sandstone slab preserving manus and pes casts(Brachychirotherium isp.) (Warwickshire Museumspecimen G1143), Witley [Whitley] Green, Preston Bagot,Warwickshire (Arden Sandstone, Late Triassic). Thisspecimen can also be seen in Beasley Archive photographs28 and 365 (Figure 5). Specimen is 310 mm long.to study body fossils and trace fossils in a highlyaccessible setting, and have featured in a number ofmuseum-led geological walks. With further referenceto field studies, Middle Jurassic burrow casts arefigured within the identification and interpretativematerials for Warwickshire Museum’s school andholiday fossil-collecting trips to Cross Hands Quarry,near Little Compton.Discussion and conclusionsThe WNHAS acquired trace fossil specimensthroughout much of the nineteenth century. Thislegacy is evident amongst the strengths of the moderncollection, most notably the Triassic track-bearingsandstone slabs. Many of these specimens are fromlocalities that are no longer productive (Benton et al.2002), and represent irreplaceable repositories ofpalaeontological and sedimentological data. As such,they have attracted the attention of researchers inrecent decades. Nevertheless, the potential forcollecting new trace fossil material in Warwickshireremains considerable, and several new records havebeen established from Triassic and Jurassic strata inrecent years.Improved and more accessible storage conditions forlarger specimens, though desirable, would demandincreased space that is not at present available.However, current storage conditions are more thanadequate and smaller trace fossil specimens haverecently benefited from repacking as part of a majorvolunteer project. The Market Hall Museum continuesto display Triassic vertebrate tracks more than 150ReferencesANON. 1860. Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of theCouncil to the Subscribers read at the AnniversaryMeeting, April 13 th , 1860. Warwickshire NaturalHistory and Archaeological Society, Warwick, 24pp.BEASLEY, H.C. 1898. Notes on examples of footprints& c., from the Trias in some provincial museums.Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society 8,233-237.BEASLEY, H.C. 1906. Notes on footprints from theTrias in the Museum of the Warwickshire NaturalHistory and Archaeological Society at Warwick.Report of the British Association for theAdvancement of Science (South Africa, 1905), 162-166.BENTON, M.J., COOK, E. and TURNER, P. 2002.Geological Conservation Review Series: Permianand Triassic Red Beds and the Penarth Group ofGreat Britain. Joint Nature ConservationCommittee, Peterborough, 337 pp.BRASIER, M.D. and HEWITT, R.A. 1979.Environmental setting of fossiliferous rocks from theuppermost Proterozoic-Lower Cambrian of centralEngland. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,Palaeoecology 27, 35-57.BRIDGE, D.McC., CARNEY, J.N., LAWLEY, R.S. andRUSHTON, A.W.A. 1998. Geology of the countryaround Coventry and Nuneaton. Memoirs of theBritish Geological Survey, Sheet 169 (England andWales), The Stationery Office, London, 185 pp.BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 1989. BritishGeological Survey 1:50 000 Series, England andWales Sheet 183, Redditch, Solid and Drift Geology.British Geological Survey, Keyworth.BRODIE, P.B. 1859. On the occurrence of footsteps ofCheirotherium in the Upper Keuper inWarwickshire. Quarterly Journal of the GeologicalSociety 16, 278.BRODIE, P.B. 1860. Chirotherium-Fährten im oberen-252-