XO. 1814 NETTlvLROTII FOSSIL COLLECTION — BASSLLR I23 



Mr. Nettelroth's contribution to geological literature consists of 

 a quarto volume of 245 pages and 36 plates, entitled "Kentucky 

 Fossil Shells : A Alonograph of the Fossil Shells of the Silurian and 

 Devonian Rocks of Kentucky." This work, which was issued by 

 the Kentucky Geological Survey in 1889, two years after the death 

 of its author, is strictly biological in its scope. Over two hundred 

 species of mollusca from the strata mentioned in the title were de- 

 scribed and illustrated, in addition to a few Ordovician brachiopoda, 

 sponges, and bryozoa. A short sketch of geology and paleontology, 

 written for the general reader, introduces the purely descriptive 

 part, but no particular reference is made to the geology of the Ohio 

 Falls region. Forty-three new species were instituted by Mr. Net- 

 telroth, the remainder being for the most part redescriptions and 

 illustrations of forms described by others in various scattered publi- 

 cations. 



The care with which the paleontologist of today assigns definite 

 localities and horizons to his species was not always observed in the 

 past, and it is therefore a satisfaction to note Mr. Nettelroth's proce- 

 dure in this matter. Although geographic names for the several 

 Devonian formations at the Falls were not employed at the time of 

 his studies, still his citations are careful enough to accurately locate 

 most of the species. Thus the registration of a species as from the 

 hydraulic limestone is equivalent to placing it in the Silver Creek 

 formation as we now know it, and likewise the "rotten hornestone 

 in the upper strata of Devonian age" or the "cherty layers on top of 

 the hydraulic limestone" clearly indicate the present Sellersburg 

 formation. 



His variety of ways of citing formation and locality is most inter- 

 esting and entertaining. Thus the formation and locality of Meris- 

 tclla niiisiilcafa (page 100, op. cit.) is described as follows: 



"Found in the upper strata of the Corniferous group surrounding 

 the Falls of the Ohio, in Kentucky and Indiana, where fractions of 

 this species are pretty abundant in some localities, but fine and well- 

 preserved specimens of the whole shell, as well as of single valves, 

 which are found, are exceedingly rare. My cabinet contains some 

 exquisite examples of this species. The fossils of the Corniferous 

 strata from the neighborhood of the Falls are, on the Indiana side 

 of the river, generally more numerous, and in the average better 

 preserved than those found in Kentucky. The little town, Charles- 

 town, in Clarke County, Indiana, two or three miles ofif the river, is 

 about the center of one of the richest fields of the Devonian forma- 

 tion, which has furnished a great many cabinets with very choice 

 specimens. A day's rambling in the washes of the fields around 

 Charlestown, after several days' hard rain, is a real treat to any 



