Six hundred samples of limestone and shale from the Lower Carboniferous of southwestern England and Wales and central Scotland were processed for conodonts. The samples yielded over 25,000 identifiable specimens, referable to 170 species, representing 26 genera. Two genera, 22 species, and 12 subspecies are new.

The faunas have been divided into a succession of 16 conodont assemblage zones, which are used as a basis for correlation between standard sections in various Carboniferous provinces of Great Britain. They also make possible correlation with the successions in Germany and North America, to which faunas there is a strong general similarity. Local differences are attributed to sedimentary breaks, limited geographic distribution, and conodont phylogeny.

In the southwestern province of Britain, the greater part of the K zone is correlated with the Cu-I goniatite zone of Germany; the uppermost K, Z, and C zones with the Cu-II zone; and the C₂S₁, S₂, D₁, D₂, and lower D₃ zones with the Cu-III zone. The upper D₃ zone is of E₁ (Namurian) age.

The upper part of the Calciferous Sandstone Series of the Midland Valley of Scotland is of Cu-III ^agr age, the Lower Limestone Group of Cu-III ß/^ggr age, and the Upper Limestone Group of E₁/E₂ (Namurian) age.

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