268 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 52 



are resting upon their sides with their arms closely folded together 

 like bundles of parallel rods. The arms seem to be pointing uni- 

 formly toward the center of the slab, but whether this arrangement 

 is accidental or due to eddies in the water at the time of the death 

 of this colony, can only be conjectured. However, the former sur- 

 mise is probably nearer the truth, since the bundle-like arrangement 

 of the arms in practically all of the specimens undoubtedly indicates 

 a less distorted condition of the crinoids at the time of death. 

 Clearer or purer water may likewise possibly account for this reg- 

 ular arrangement, since, in specimens showing the arms widely 

 extended or otherwise disturbed, the enclosing chalk gives an indica- 

 tion of muddy water in its darker color. 



Mr. Springer's interest in the National Museum has not been 

 confined to fossil crinoids, on which he is the leading authority, but 

 has extended to other branches of paleontology. From time to time, 

 collections of fossils have been presented by him, but in 1907, the 

 Museum was so fortunate as to secure, through its purchase and 

 subsequent donation by Mr. Springer, the collection of Prof. W. F. 

 Pate, of Lebanon, Kentucky, who had spent many years in accumu- 

 lating this valuable lot of material. The size and value of the col- 

 lection is evident when it is stated that about 12,000 specimens, 

 mostly belonging to species hitherto unrepresented in the National 

 collections, have been catalogued in the Museum register under 

 nearly 2,000 entries, and are retained in the permanent stratigraphic 

 and biologic series of the division. The number of specimens set 

 aside as duplicates for exchanges and like purposes was large enough 

 to increase the sum total in the original cabinet to not less than 

 50,000. This collection, as a whole, came from the Paleozoic rocks 

 of the Mississippi Valley, but specimens from numerous foreign 

 localities, secured by exchange, are likewise present. Altogether 

 about six hundred localities are represented by specimens. The 

 faunas from certain localities and horizons are so complete that it 

 seems in order to note a few of these. 



The various Ordovician and Silurian formations, especially of 

 Kentucky, are abundantly represented, but probably the most com- 

 plete fauna in the collection comes from the celebrated Niagaran 

 Waldron shales. In Indiana a few localities are known where fos- 

 sils from these shales can be had, but at present the finest exposures 

 are ajong the west flank of the Cincinnati axis in Tennessee. Mr. 

 Pate discovered the best of these localities, and the collection has 

 benefited accordingly. In the Devonian, the most interesting faunas 

 represented in detail were from the Onondaga and Hamilton lime- 



