THE INVERTEBRATE FOSSIL COLLECTION 



BY 



P. E. RAYMOND 



The collection of invertebrate fossils is stored in cases in five large 

 rooms. In addition to those under the direct supervision of the 

 curator, there are separate series of fossil echinoderms and of fossil 

 insects. The greater part of the collection is arranged in zoological 

 order, but recently an attempt has been made to build up another 

 series, in which the arrangement is chronological, by geologic ages. 

 Louis Agassiz was the first to accumulate great numbers of inver- 

 tebrate fossils, and the bulk of the material reached the Museum 

 through his efforts or those of Alexander Agassiz. Some of the earlier 

 accessions are of great historic interest, containing material collected 

 by Louis Agassiz himself, and specimens presented to him by Sir 

 Charles Lyell. Of similar interest and importance are collections 

 from Jules Marcou, particularly from his "Dyas," Bohemian fossils 

 from Barrande, specimens collected by J. B. Perry, an early curator 

 in the Museum, a large European collection from de Koninck, and 

 the Alpheus Hyatt collection of cephalopods. Outstanding for their 

 large size and importance are: the Day collection, chiefly from the 

 Silurian near Milwaukee, especially rich in cephalopods and trilo- 

 bites; the Rust and Walcott collection, largely Ordovician, contain- 

 ing an unrivalled series of trilobites, including the thin sections which 

 first demonstrated the presence of appendages, and thousands of 

 brachiopods and bryozoans; the Schary collection, the greatest 

 assemblage of Bohemian Paleozoic fossils except that in Praha, in- 

 cluding many of Barrande's types; the Schultze collection from the 

 Devonian of the Eifel district, especially rich in brachiopods and 

 containing types; the de Koninck collection of Carboniferous, 

 Mesozoic, and Tertiary fossils, largely from Belgium and France, 

 representing many classic localities; the Dyer collection from the 

 Ohio Valley, containing thousands of specimens of brachiopods, tri- 

 lobites, and cephalopods; the St. John collection, chiefly Carbonif- 



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