PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 

 Vol. 4, pp. 211-214. February 12, i906. 



PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE NATURE OF TAONURUS. 



By Clifton J. Sarle. 



Read before the Academy December ii, 1905. 



Among problematic genera probably none has aroused more 

 general interest and discussion than Taomirus. This genus was 

 created in 1858 by Fischer- Ooster for fossils from the Flysch of 

 Switzerland. To it are referable the fossils known under the names 

 Spirophytoii Hall, Aledoruriis Schimper, Physophycus Schimp., Can- 

 ccllophycus Saporta, and Glossophycus Saporta and Marion. It shouUi 

 also include some of the forms placed under Taonichnites {Afedusich- 

 7iites) Matthew, as well as those under the older genus Zoophycos 

 Massalongo which do not agree with the type species Z. caput-meduscB 

 in being cespitose. 



As thus comprehended, Taonuiiis ranges from early Cambrian to 

 late Tertiary and appears to be world-wide in its occurrence. It is 

 found in both shallow and deep water deposits. Often it is so abund- 

 ant as literally to make up great thicknesses of strata which may other- 

 wise be practically barren. 



The prevailing opinion among writers regarding the nature of 

 Taomcnis has been that it is a plant, the majority referring it to the 

 algae, a few to the aquatic hepaticae. It has also been regarded as an 

 anthozoan, as the coprolite of a mud-eating animal, possibly of a 

 holothurian, and as a mere surface marking produced by the tentacles 

 of some creature. Other views are that it is of purely mechanical 

 origin, produced by running or swirling water and by forces acting 

 during or after solidification of the beds. One writer is of the opinion 

 that different forms may have originated in different ways, namely, by 

 the action of swirling water, by the action of waves upon attached 

 plants, and by the movements of worms upon the surface of the sedi- 

 ment. Another has advanced the view, first, that it was formed by 



21, Proc. Roch. Acad. Science, \'oi.. 4, Feb. 12, 1906. 



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