30 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



journey a new section across the Big Horn Mountains was seen 

 along Shell Creek, and about a week was spent in the Black Hills. 

 During an earlier trip from May 5 to 15 to southwestern Virginia 

 and eastern Tennessee Dr. Resser examined outcrops of the belt 

 west of Clinch Mountain to ascertain the faunal content of the Mary- 

 ville formation. Fossils were scarce and very difficult to free from 

 the matrix. A visit to Austinville, Va., furnished some excellent 

 fossils, and observations confirmed earlier interpretation of the stra- 

 tigraphy. The exact stratigraphic position of a new brachiopod 

 related to Nisusia — as yet undescribed — was discovered. 



In August 1940 Dr. G. Arthur Cooper, assistant curator of strati- 

 graphic jDaleontology, joined Mrs. J. H. Renfro and daughter in 

 Fort Worth and with the guidance of these expert collectors collected 

 Pennsylvanian fossils in the region around Jacksboro and Graham 

 in north-central Texas. An abundance of fine material for the 

 biological series was obtained. Following 2 weeks in north-central 

 Texas, Dr. Cooper went to the Glass Mountains in west Texas, where 

 he spent another 2 weeks collecting limestone containing silicified 

 specimens. About a ton of blocks was sent back to Washington, 

 where almost half the material has since been etched with acid, 

 yielding very beautiful rare fossils that preserve the delicate spines, 

 and peculiar features of the interior of the animals concerned in a 

 truly remarkable way. Proceeding to west Tennessee he collected 

 Silurian and Lower Devonian fossils along the Tennessee River in 

 localities that soon will be lost through the impounding of water 

 behind the Gilbertsville, Ky., dam. At places the Silurian in this 

 part of Tennessee teems with fossils of many kinds and fine col- 

 lections were obtained, including new forms as well as many others 

 not previously present in the collections. From there he went east 

 to Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he joined Dr. Josiah Bridge, of the 

 United States Geological Survey. They spent 10 days in the Central 

 Basin of Tennessee collecting the fossils and studying the rocks of 

 the Stones River (Ordovician) group, as problems of correlation 

 never satisfactorily solved exist in this area. 



As the vertebrate paleontological field exploration under Dr. C. 

 L. Gazin, assistant curator of vertebrate paleontology, extended into 

 the present year, but brief mention was made of it in last year's 

 report. The expedition, into central Utah and southwestern Wy- 

 oming, was a continuation of previous investigations. In the Upper 

 Cretaceous several additional lizard skeletons were collected; and 

 in the Paleocene a considerable number of fragmentary mammal 

 specimens. Interesting new forms contribute information to the 

 known fauna of the Dragon formation. The bulk of the season 

 was spent in the Bridger formation of the Eocene in southwestern 



