A list of Devonian fossils collected in western New York, with notes on their stratigraphic distribution

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L161 — O-1096

Field Columbian Museum.

Publication No. 113.

Geological Series. Vol. II, No. 8.

A LIST OF DEVONIAN FOSSILS

COLLECTED IN WESTERN

NEW YORK,

WITH NOTES ON THEIR STRATI-
GRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

Arthur Ware Slocom,
Assistant in Paleontology.

Oliver Cummings Farrington, Ph. D.
Curator, Department of Geology.

j$ Chicago, U. S. A.

June 1, 1906.

A LIST OF DEVONIAN FOSSILS COLLECTED IN WESTERN
NEW YORK, WITH NOTES ON THEIR STRATI-
GRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

BY ARTHUR W. SLOCOM.

The material upon which this paper is based, was collected during
the month of September, 1904, and is now a part of the Paleonto-
logical collections of this Museum. Especial effort was made while
collecting, not only to obtain as complete a fauna as possible at each
locality visited, but to have the number of specimens collected of
the various species represent, as nearly as might be, their relative
abundance at the different localities.

In the Hamilton or Middle Devonian rocks of Western New York
and Canada there are three well-defined beds of varying thickness
but of constant lithological characters. The upper of these beds is
a shale called the Moscow shale; the middle bed is a crystalline lime-
stone varying in thickness from il/i to 3 feet, called the Encrinal
limestone; and the lowest bed is the Hamilton shale. The Encrinal
limestone is present at so many of the outcrops, and is so easily rec-
ognized that it serves as a datum line for correlating the shales either
above or below it. At none of the localities visited by the writer was
there enough of the beds exposed to give any idea of the thickness of
the series, but measurements made at other places by other authors
show that in a general way the beds may be said to gradually thin
out towards the West. Thus at *Utica, New York, where the meas-
ure was obtained from a well, Prosser found a thickness of 1,142 feet.

At the fLivonia salt shaft in Livingston county, about 124 miles
west of Utica, Luther reports the thickness of the beds as 517 feet,
and at the f Crystal salt well near Wyoming, about 23 miles farther
west, a thickness of 407 feet. At % Eighteen Mile Creek near Buffalo,
about 45 miles west of Wyoming, Shimer and Grabau report that
the beds measure only 76 feet. At JThedford, Ontario, about 130
miles still farther west, a thickness of 81 feet is reported by the same

•Am. Geologist, Vol. VI, p 202.

t 47th N. Y. State Museum Report, p. 258.

% Bull. Geol Soc. of Am., Vol. 13, p. 162.

257

258 Field Columbian Museum — Geology, Vol. II.

authors. Thus it appears that, in passing from Utica to Eighteen
Mile Creek, a distance of a little less than 200 miles, the beds thin
from 1,142 to 76 feet. In the next 130 miles, however, there is com-
paratively little change in thickness.

The Moscow and Bethany localities have been well known col-
lecting grounds for many years. H. A. Green* called attention
to them as far back as 1866, and still the supply of well preserved
fossils is apparently as good as ever.

Moscow : The outcrop at Moscow, from which the Moscow shale
received its name, afforded to the writer its characteristic fauna.
Fossils were most abundant at the exposures along the creek on the
farm of Mr. W. H. De Forrest (Plate LXXIX) about a mile northeast of
town. Another exposure was found about a quarter of a mile north
of the station where a creek passes under the railway track, and
by following the creek up stream, some brachiopods were obtained.

Near East Bethany, six exposures were visited. These are indi-
cated on the map (Plate LXXX) by the field numbers, B4 to B9
inclusive.

B4 is situated about a mile and a half west of the station at the
point where the railroad cuts through the top of the divide between the
va ley of the Genesee River, which empties into Lake Ontario, and
that of Tonawanda Creek, which empties into the Niagara River
only a short way from Lake Erie. This exposure is about three
quarters of a mile in length, and has a depth of, perhaps, 15 feet,
where the road crosses it. From this point it tapers down to nothing
at each end. This ridge is the highest elevation of land in this
locality: Fossil corals and brachiopods are especially abundant
here, but many of the other classes of invertebrates are also found.
Hypsocrinus fieldi, described! by Frank Springer, and the author,
came from this locality. The Encrinal limestone appears at the
top of the exposure, so that the shale from which the fossils were
obtained is the upper part of the Hamilton shale.

B5 is situated about a mile southeast from the station at the Peck
& Wood tile factory. Here the shale is weathered so that it can be
plowed. A layer about a foot thick at the top, is very rich in brachio-
pods. Neucleospira concinna is found here, with the hair-like spines
preserved. Tropidoleptus carinatus is very abundant and attains

* Am. Jour. Sci., and Ser., Vol. 41, pp. 121-23.

t Field Col. Mus. Pub., Geol. Series, Vol. II, pp. 267-271.

June, 1906. Devonian Fossils — Slocqm. 259

a much larger size than at Moscow, or at any of the other outcrops
at Bethany, with the possible exception of B9. Many of the shells
of this species have parasites attached to them. Among these para-
sites occur three species of bryozoans, worm tubes, and an inarticu-
late brachiopod. Below this layer rich in brachiopods, the shale is
comparatively free from fossils. A few specimens of Pleurodictyum
stylopora were the only fossils obtained here by the writer.

B6 is situated on the roadside between the tile factory and the
station. It is an outcrop of a hard, black shale, lying quite a little
higher than either B5, B7, or B9. but whether it is above the Encrinal
limestone, the writer was unable to determine. This outcrop was
quite small and comparatively unimportant.

B7 marks a number of exposures along the banks of White Creek,
a short distance southeast of East Bethany. This locality afforded
corals, brachiopods, etc. Monroe* reports finding Goniatites in pyrite
nodules at this place, but none was secured by the writer.

B8 is located a mile and a half west of B4, at the point where a
small tributary of Tonawanda Creek runs near the track. Along
the banks of the tributary are piles of weathered shale in which
quantities of bryozoans, corals, and gastropods were found. Just
west of here where the road crosses the track, a cut affords a good
exposure of a black laminated shale similar to certain upper layers
at Moscow, which is practically barren of fossils, but on top of this,
is a thin layer in which some large brachiopods were found. The
shale near the brook does not appear to be in situ, and probably
was brought there at the time the railroad was built, from a small
cut just east of its present position, where a similar shale is found.
The Encrinal limestone is exposed in the bed of this brook, with a
moderate dip towards the west. This would determine both the
black and the fossiliferous shales to belong to the upper group, or
Moscow shale. While these beds are much lower topographically
than those at B4, they are undoubtedly higher geologically.

B9 is found by following White Creek up stream from near the
tile factory, to several exposures where brachiopods abound. As
might be expected from the proximity of their location, the fossils
found at these outcrops are similar to those of B5. These outcrops
appear to be the upper portions of the beds whose base is exposed
in the clay pit at B5.

Windom is situated about 8 miles southeast of the business center

* Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. a, p. 57.

260 Field Columbian Museum — Geology, Vol. II.

of Buffalo. Near the railway bridge the Encrinal limestone is ex-
posed with both the Moscow and Hamilton shales: All may also be
seen along the banks of the South Branch of Smokes Creek. Between
the railroad and the creek, large piles of weathered shale and blocks
of limestone are to be found in which fossils are abundant. Brachio-
pods and corals are the predominating fossils, and a fine series of well
preserved specimens was collected, but as most of them came from
the dump piles or talus, they are of little value in determining the
distribution of the species in the three horizons.

After the identification of this material, the various species were
tabulated to see if the geological position of B5, B6, B7, and B9
in relation to the Encrinal limestone could be determined. Upon
comparison of these faunas with those of Moscow, B4, and B8, it
was not only found impossible to determine the position of the un-
known faunas, but also it was found that the Moscow fauna did not
bear the relation to those of B4 and B8, that might be expected. In
order to make the range of localities and faunas studied as complete
as possible, published lists of Hamilton fossils by various authors
from other localities were referred to and mention of any of the species
collected by the present writer noted. It was then found by a study of
the table, that while at different localities, the faunas could readily
be separated into "upper" and "lower," on correlating the localities,
these distinctions could not be maintained. Thus Aulopora serpens
occurs at Bethany in both the Moscow and Hamilton beds, while at
Thedford it is only reported from the Moscow, at Eighteen Mile
Creek only from the Hamilton, and at Cayuga Lake, from both.
The two species of Craspedophyllum are not reported below the Encri-
nal limestone at either of the other localities, but at Bethany C.
archiaci is very abundant all through the series, and C. subcaspitosum
is found only in the Hamilton. Favosites argus is reported only from
the Moscow at Cayuga Lake, and only from the Hamilton at Eight-
een Mile Creek, but at Bethany it is found in both layers. Strep-
telasma rectum is reported as extending through the series, and is so
found at Bethany, but the allied species S. ungula has been reported
only from the Moscow. At Bethany, however, it is found in both
the Moscow and Hamilton. The same may be said of Rhipidomella
vanuxemi and R. penelope. They are both found through the series
at Bethany, but while the former is so reported, the latter is reported
cnly ficm the Moscow. Stropheodonta concava is reported only from
above the Encrinal limestone at Thedford and Cayuga Lake, and

June 1906. Devonian Fossils — Slocom. 261

only in and below the Encrinal limestone at Eighteen Mile Creek,
but at Bethany it occurs both above and below. Stropheodonta
detnissa is found throughout the series at Bethany, and also at Thed-
ford, but at Eighteen Mile Creek it is reported in the Encrinal bed
and below, and at Cayuga Lake only in the Hamilton. Tropidoleptus
carinatus is found through the series at both Bethany and Cayuga
Lake, but at Eighteen Mile Creek in the Encrinal limestone and be-
low, and at Thedford only in the Hamilton.

It is of interest to note that in the Bethany fauna the range of
some species, e. g. Aulopora serpens and Tropidoleptus carinatus
corresponds to the Cayuga Lake fauna; that of others, e. g. Stroph-
eodonta demissa, corresponds to the Thedford fauna, and Stropheodonta
concava and Favosites argus have as great a range at Bethany as at
all the other localities combined. Hence it is not safe to determine
the position of isolated beds, in regard to the Encrinal limestone,
by the composition of the fauna. A similar conclusion was reached
by Cleland* in his study of the Hamilton beds at Cayuga Lake.

The following table represents the amount of material collected
by the writer, with the exception of the bryozoans from "B8." Of
these a large series, both of species and specimens, was secured, but
as they have not yet been identified, they are not included. The
figures against each species in the table indicate the number of speci-
mens collected by the writer. The letters indicate that the same
species have been reported by other authors from Thedford, Eighteen
Mile Creek, or Cayuga Lake, and the particular letter indicates the
bed in which they were found. Thus M, indicates Moscow shale;
E, Encrinal limestone, and H, Hamilton shale. The papers con-
sulted for mention of these species are the following: Hamilton
Group of Thedford, Ontario, by H. W. Shimer and A. W. Grabau,
Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. Vol. 13, p. 149, 1901 ; Geology and Paleontology
of Eighteen Mile Creek and the Lake Shore Sections of Erie County,
by A. W. Grabau, Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Sci. Vol. VI, 1899; A
Study of the Fauna of the Hamilton Formation of the Cayuga
Lake Section in Central New York, by H. F. Cleland, Bull. 206, U. S.
Geological Survey, 1903.

* Bull. 206. U. S. G. S., p. 91.

DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES.

.SP<u

S*

PORIFERA.
Astraeospongia hamiltonensis
M. & W.

CCELENTERATA.

"Alveolites goldfussi Billings ....

Amplexus intermittens Hall

A. hamiltoniae Hall

A. yandelli E. & H

Aulopora serpens Goldf

A. tubaeformis Goldf

A. erecta Rominger

A. sp

Blothrophyllum conatum Hall. .

Ceratopora jacksoni Grabati ....

Craspedophyllum archiaci Bill-
ings

C. subcaespitosum Nich. . ;

C. sp

Cyathophyllum gradatum Hall . .

C. nanum Hall

C. nepos Hall

C. palum Hall

C. perlamelosum Hall

C. robustum Hall

C. sp

Cystiphyllum americanum E &H

C. conifolle Hall

C. corrugatum Hall

C. varians Hall

Favosites arbuscula Hall

F. argus Hall

F. billingsi Rominger

F. clausus Rominger

F. emmonsi Rominger

F. hamiltonias Hall

F. hemisphericus turbinatus
Billings

F. nitella Rominger

F. placenta Romtnger

F. tuberosa Rominger

Heliophyllum arachne Hall

H. confluens Hall

H. dejener Hall

H. halli E.&H

H. irregulare Hall

H. juvene Rominger

H. reflexum Hall

Hadrophyllum woodi Grabau . .

13

13

1

4

10

36

17

163

64

38

11

6

4

5

3

22

24
3
6

44

4

15

J36

3

5

122

21

48

26

2

6

6

24

31

141

61
7

49
5
6

4

7

113

M

M

M

M

E

M

M

M

M

M

EM
M

M

M

M

H

H

M-H

M

M
M-H

M

M-H

M-H

it)

262

June, 1906.

Devonian Fossils — Slocom.

263

is

a

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CCELENTERATA— Con

Lichenalia sp

Michelinia insignis Rominger.
Monilopora antiqua Whitfield
Pleurodictyum dividua Hall .

P. stylopora Eaton

Streptelasma rectum Hall

S. ungula Hall

Stromatopora sp

Syringopora sp

Trachypora limbata Eaton . . .
Zaphrentis exigua Billings . . .

Z. simplex Hall

Z. sp

PELMATOZOA.
Hypsocrinus fieldi Spr. & Si.
Ancyrocrinus bulbosus Hall .

Codaster hindei E. & C

Pentremitidea sp

Crinoid plates

Crinoid roots

Crinoid stems

Crinoid arms ,

VERMES.
Autodetus lindstromi Clark. .
Cornulites hamiltoniae Grabau
Spirorbis angulatus Hall . . . . ,
S. omphaloides Nichols .

Worm teeth

Fish bone

BRYOZOA.
Botryllopora socialis Nich
Hederella canadensis Nich

H. cirrhosa Hall ,

H. filliformis Billings

Monotrypa fruticosa Hall . . . .

M. furcata Hall

Stictopora incisurata Hall. . . .

BRACHIOPODA.
Ambocoelia umbonata Conrad

A. nana Grabau

Athyris spiriferoides Eaton . . .

A. fultonensis Swallow

Atrypa reticularis Linn ......

A. spinosa Hall

Camarotoechia billingsi Hall . .

C. horsfordi Hall

C. sappho Hall

C. tethys Billings ,

Chonetes coronatus Conrad . . .

C. lepidus Hall

C. mucronatus Hall

C. scitulus Hall

C. vicinus Castelnau

Cranana romingeri Hall

10

2
J°3

6
8

26

14

58

14

19

106

M

II

M

M
U

M

M

M
II
M

M

M

M-H

M-H

M

H

M-H
M

ME

M-H

II

H
H

M

H
M-H
EH

M-H

H
M-H

M-H

M

M-H
EH

EH
M-H
M-H
M-H
M-H
H

M-H
M-H

M

II

M

M-H

M
M-H
M-H
M-H

ME
M-H

M-H
M-H
M-H
M-H

M

264

Field Columbian Museum — Geology, Vol. II.

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BRACHIOPODA— Con.

Crania crenistriata Ha//

Craniella hamiltoniae Hall ......

Cryptonella planirostris Hall ....

C. rectirostris Hall

Cyclorhina nobilis Hall

Cyrtina hamiltonensis Hall

C. hamiltonensis recta Hall

Delthyris consobrina d'Orb

D. sculptilis Hall

Eunella lincklaeni Hall

Leiorhynchus dubium Hall

L. laura Billings

Lingula sp

Meristella barrisi Hall

M. haskinsi Hall

Nucleospira concinna Hall

Orthothetes arctostriatus Hall . .

O. chemungensis Conrad

Parazyga hirsuta Hall

Pholidostrophia iowaensis Owen.
Productella spinulicosta Hall . . .
Reticularia fimbria ta Conrad ....

Rhipidomella leucosia Hall

R. penelope Hall

R. vanuxemi Hall .

Roemerella grandis Vanuxem ....

Spirifer acuminatus Conrad

S. angustus Hall

S. audaculus Conrad

S. audaculus macronotus Hall.

S. divarioatus Hall

S. granulosus Conrad

S. granulosus clintoni Hall

S. marcyi Hall

S. pennatus Atwater

Stropheodonta concava Hall. . . .

S. demissa Conrad

S. inaequistriata Conrad

S. perplana Conrad

S. plicata Hall

S. textilis Hall

S. sp

Terebratula sp

Tropidoleptus carina tus Conrad. .

PELECYPODA

Actinopteria boydi Conrad

A. decussata Hall

Aviculopecten princeps Conrad. .
Conocardium eboraceum Hall. .
Cypricardella bellistriata Conrad

Elymella nuculoides Hall

Goniophora hamiltonensis Hall. .

Grammy sia arcuata Conrad

Leiopteria Conradi Hall

Modiomorpha concentrica Conrad

H
M-H
EH

H

M-H
H
M
E

H
M-H

E
M-H
M-H
M-H

EH

M-H
EH

M-H
EH
EH
M-H
M-H
H

HE
H

EH
EH

H
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June 1906.

Devonian Fossils — Slocom.

265

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PELECYPODA— Con.

Nucula sp

Nuculites nyssa Hall

Orthonota undulata Conrad. . . .
Pateoneilo constricta Conrad . .
Pholadella radiata Conrad ....
Plethomystus oviformis Conrad
Pterinopectin undosus Hall. . . .
Sphenotus truncatus Conrad ...
Tellinopsis subemarginatus Con-
rad

GASTROPODA

Bellerophon sp

Platyceras attenuatum Hall . . .

P. bucculentum Hall

P. carinatum Hall

P. conicum Hall

P. dumosum rarispinum Hall . .

P. echinatum Hall

P. erectum Hall

P. symmetricum Hall

P. thetis Hall

Platyostoma lineatum Conrad . .
P. lineatum emarginatum Grab .

P. turbinatum Hall

Pleurotomaria itys Hall

P. sp

PTEROPODA

Styliolina fissurella Hall

CEPHALOPODA

Orthoceras crotalum Hall

TRILOBITA

Dalmanites boothi Green

D. boothi calletelles Green

Homalonotus dekayi Green

Phacops rana Green

Proetus rowi Green

P. curvimarginatus Hall

M-H
M-H
M-H
M-H
M-H

M-H

y

M

M-H

M
M-H

M-H
M-H

M-H

M
EH
M-H

E

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