PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



by tht 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 91 Washington: 1941 No. 3126 



THE NEVADA EARLY OKUOVICIAN (POGONIP) SPONGE 



FAUNA 



By R. S. Bassler 



The discovery in 1927 by H. G. Clinton and Percy Train, of Man- 

 hattan, Nev., of a new fossil sponge fauna in Upper Pogonip (Chaz- 

 yan) strata of that State, characterized by the trilobite Plwmero'ps 

 harrandei Billings, was of such interest that I was prevailed upon to 

 describe it immediately without illustration, so that the many dupli- 

 cate specimens belonging to their collections could be sent out with 

 definite specific names to interested students. It is regretted that the 

 illustration of these new genera and species has been delayed until 

 the present time, but the literature upon Paleozoic fossil sponges 

 grows so slowly that apparently there has been no conflict in the 

 matter of synonymy. LT^ncertainty as to the exact location of these 

 sponge-bearing beds, which was quoted as McMonnigal Canyon, 

 Monitor Range, 10 miles west of Devils Punch Bowl in ^lonitor 

 Valley, Nev., had also to be removed. 



Dr. Edwin Kirk, in the course of liis stratigraphic studies of the 

 western Paleozoic for the United States Geological Survey in 1928, 

 visited the type locality for these sponges. This proved to be the 

 hillside slope above the cabin half a mile south of Ikes Canyon, 4 

 miles west of Dianas Punch Bowd as registered in 1929 on the Roberts 

 Mountain quadrangle, Nev., these being the modern names for 

 McMonnigal Canyon and Devils Punch Bowl, the latter occurring 

 only 4 miles east of the canyon. Furthermore, the mountain range 

 in question is now the Toquima Range in the Toiyabe National 



406808 — 41 91 



