In South Wales the Arenig beds[74] are chiefly composed of slates, and are divisible into an upper and lower group. The total thickness is about 2000 feet. The Llandeilo beds contain three series:—
| Upper Llandeilo Slates | 1000 |
| Llandeilo Limestone | 200 |
| Lower Llandeilo Slates | 800. |
[74] A remarkable fauna, fairly well represented in Britain and exceedingly well developed on the continent, exists in the Uppermost Arenig and Lower Llandeilo beds, and it is well separated from the dominant Arenig fauna below and Llandeilo fauna above. To the beds which contain it Dr Hicks has given the name Llanvirn series.
The Caradoc beds consist of black graptolitic shales of no great thickness, succeeded by an impure limestone on the horizon of the Bala limestone, while the Ashgill series like that of North Wales is separated into upper and lower limestone stages with an intervening stage composed of shales.
The deposits of the Welsh borderland are well developed in Shropshire, where there is practically a repetition of the Caernarvon-Merioneth development, with variations in detail. The Arenig and Caradoc volcanic rocks are not so thick as those of the Welsh district, but are nevertheless of considerable importance[75].
[75] For information concerning these beds see Lapworth, C. and Watts, W. W., "The Geology of South Shropshire," Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. XIII. p. 297.
In the hilly region of Cumberland, Westmorland, and the adjoining parts of Yorkshire the succession differs from that of any of the Welsh regions, for the great period of volcanicity was during the formation of the Llandeilo rocks, and there were merely sporadic outbursts in Arenig and Caradoc times. The Arenig rocks consist of black shales with interstratified beds of coarser sediment, and some thin lavas and ashes of intermediate type. The Llandeilo series is represented by a very great thickness of volcanic rocks, varying in composition from basic to acid lavas, with associated pyroclastic rocks. The rocks of the Caradoc period largely consist of impure limestone with associated argillaceous rocks, and contemporaneous volcanic rocks of acid character. A marked unconformity is found locally in the centre of these. The Ashgill series consists of a basal limestone with shales above, and there is evidence that volcanic activity had not become extinct during the deposition of the rocks of this series.
Passing on to Scotland, the graptolitic type is admirably shown in the southern Uplands of the neighbourhood of Moffat, Dumfriesshire. The base of the Ordovician system has not been found, but the lowest series seems to be represented by shales with a graptolite possibly of Arenig age. Above this are volcanic beds succeeded by a group of black shales known as the Moffat shales. They are only about six hundred feet in thickness, and yet represent much of the Ordovician and part of the Silurian strata as developed elsewhere. The beds belonging to the Ordovician system are divided into two series, the Glenkiln shales below and the Hartfell shales above. The former consist of intensely black muds with few fossils save graptolites, and a deposit of chert at the base which is composed of radiolaria. The graptolites of the black shales are Upper Llandeilo forms, but the thin deposit of radiolarian chert may represent the rest of the Llandeilo period and part of the Arenig period also. The Hartfell shales are also usually black graptolite shales with lighter deposits nearly barren of organic remains; they represent the Caradoc and Ashgill series and pass conformably into the deposits of Silurian age[76]. The ordinary sedimentary type of Ordovician rocks is found in Ayrshire, though a few thin graptolitic seams are intercalated with the conglomerates and shelly sands, clays and limestones of the region, which is therefore peculiarly valuable as affording a means of comparison of the shelly type with the graptolitic type of Ordovician deposits. The Arenig series consists of black shales with graptolites, and these rocks are succeeded by a volcanic group which is probably of Llandeilo age. Above these volcanic beds, as in Dumfriesshire, we find three great divisions, two of which are of Ordovician, the third of Silurian age. The Ordovician divisions are respectively termed the Barr series, which is the equivalent of the Glenkiln shales, and the Ardmillan series above, equivalent to the Hartfell shales[77].