LIFE 



435 



: 



to tin- limestone of tin- period. Other echinoderms were not very 

 bundant. 



It is a matter of surprise that corals were so few, in view of the 

 favorable physical conditions. Their paucity probably is to be 

 explained by unfavorable organic conditions or relations, such as 

 un recorded enemies, or more successful rivals. Brachiopods (Fig. 

 379) were abundant, and some of their species ranged to the eastern 



1 



379. OSAOE FOSSILS: a, Zaphri'iilix ccnlralix E. and H., the most char- 

 erislic >r;il of the Osage. b-i, brachiopods: b, Spirifcr siiborbii-iiliiris Hall; a 

 ly allied species occurs in Europe, c, Athyris lameUosa I/Kveillc, a species 

 lo America and Europe; d, Splrifer loganl Hall, the American representa- 

 c of Spirifcr slr'nitus of the European Mountain limestone; c, J'rodnctns biirling- 

 nsis 1 [all, a species abundant in the Lower Osage;/, Lcpttena rlwmboiddlis Wilck, 

 a s|)i'cii-s which ])crsistcd from the Ordovician to the Usage; #, Rhipidomflla burlinu,- 

 tuiifiisi.'i (Hall); /;, Rrtictilaria pxcudolinctita (Hall), a spire-bearing brachiopod 

 iloM-ly allied to species in the European Mountain limestone; i, Schizoplwria 

 swallovi Hall, one of the last of the orthids. 



continents. Mollusks were very subordinate. There were a few 

 lingering irilobites, an abundance of bryozoans, some supposed 

 sponges, and doubtless many forms not readily fossilized. Marine 

 plants left but an obscure record. 



The Waverly fauna, east of the Cincinnati axis, was more provin- 

 cial than the Kinderhook and Osage faunas. It was the direct 

 descendant of Devonian faunas that occupied the same ground, and 

 had changed but slowly. It was modified by some immigration of 



