ABSTRACT
Shortly after the discovery of the plants, in the 1920s animal remains were described from the chert. Mites and other arachnids (trigonotarbids) were reported by Hirst (1923), fairy shrimps by Scourfield (1926), and springtails by Hirst and Maulik (1926). With few exceptions, the accuracy of the descriptions and the detailed drawings of arthropods in these papers has been corroborated by later workers. In 1961 Claridge and Lyon described book-lungs in the trigonotarbid arach - nids, thus proving that they were, indeed, land animals. More recently, centipedes have been found in the chert, as well as an arthropod with gut contents which tell us that it was a detritus feeder (Anderson & Trewin, 2003).
