A S'UPPOS'ED PEE-CAMHRIAX JELLYFISH BASSLER 521 



other ineclusiilikt" Ciuiibrinii fossils and to tlio liardeiicd, drii'd-ii[) 

 jellytislies along the seashores today, but nevertheless he believes the 

 facts favor this interpretation. In an issue of the Carne<iie News 

 Service, Dr. Hinds gave a [xjpular account of the subject, entitled 

 •'An Early Chapter of P]arth History".' Since then he has made 

 special efforts to discover more niaterial in the Grand Cany<m sec- 

 tion without any results. As it is very piobable that there will be 

 little opi)()rtunity for further search because of the expense involved 

 in collecting in this very inaccessible area, he believes theiv should 

 be no further delay in naming the form so that it can be (juoted in 

 definite terms. 



The lobation of the single specimen is so similar to that in a jelly- 

 fish that it seems hai'dly i)ossible it can be an accidental i-esemblance 

 produced by iiu)rganic mai-kings. It is realized, of course, that a 

 series of specimens should be discovered so that their variations or 

 possible j)i-oof that they are simply niai'kings can be verified. Tliis 

 specimen and ])h<)togiaphs of it have been shown to various AVasli- 

 ington and visiting paleontologists, who have varied in opinion from 

 one ])ron()uncing it undoubtedly a me(lusa to the opposite that it is 

 ])ositively inorganic. Dr. (1. Stiasny, of the Riksnniseum at Leiden, 

 Holland, the leading student of medusae, to whom the ])hotogi'ai)hs 

 were shown, reports that while the fossil looks in outline somewhat 

 like a medusa, closer examination shows that it resembles neither the 

 semaeostomatean or rhizostomatean medusae, the two great gi'onps 

 of the-:' animals. He says the fui'rows do not repi'csent i-adial canals, 

 the pouches are not stomach ponches. and the two polygons in the 

 center are cei'taiidy unknown. In addition. Dr. Stiasny believes that 

 the jellylishes described from the earliest rocks do not in most cases 

 belong to this gi'oup of animals at all. 



The illusti'ations of this su))])Osed fossil jiave been |)repared to show 

 its sti-ucture as clearly as ])()ssible under \arving aspects. The im- 

 pi'int is upon a slal) of thin-bedded. Hue-grained sandsloni' marked 

 npon its upper surface by cross-bedding oi- ovei'lapping i'ii)])le marks. 

 Portions of these have been stained reddish bi'own with iron as is the 

 imprint itself. Viewing the edge of the slab (|)1. ()4, fig. 4), one may 

 see the minute sand grains j)iled up into rip|)lelike overlapping layers 

 with the imprint crossing several of them. Exactly similar condi- 

 tions may be noted today on the Atlantic shores, especially along 

 Chesai)eake Bay, where the jellyfishes when left stianded di-y into 

 slio-htlv shriveled bodies but still retain theii- genei'al shape, before 

 bein**- covered by the sand layers of succeeding waxes. No detailed 

 descrii)tion of the lobes is advisable, since each observer might have a 

 different inteipi'ctation. l)Ut it is evident that this specimen is a more 



■ Bnll. CariKvuic Uist., Wasliinstoii, vol. 4. No. 2:!. ISrar. I", \Q?,S. 



