22 THE COAL MEASURES AMPHIBIA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



The fossils so far collected from this interesting locality are : 



INSECTA (IDENTIFIED BY DR. E. H. SELLARDS). 



Spiloblattina maledicta (Scudder). The basal half of a front wing. 

 Etoblattina sp. The hind wing of a cockroach. 



ARACHNIDA. 



Anthrocomartus . Impression of the body. 



Prestwichia dance M. & W. Nearly complete specimen. 



CRUSTACEA. 



Acanthotelson stimpsoni M. & W. Three nearly complete individuals. 



PLANTS (IDENTIFIED BY MR. J. C. CARR, OF MORRIS, ILL.). 

 Pecopteris sp. 



Sagittaria reticulata Lesquereux. 

 Annular ia longifolia Lesquereux. 

 Annularia inflata Lesquereux. 

 Pecopteris villosa Brongniart. 

 Neuropteris decipiens Lesquereux. 

 Pecopteris serpulifolia Lesquereux. By far the most abundant plant is Pecopteris. 



The fossils occur in definite strata of nodules immediately above a lo-inch coal 

 seam which is worked for local consumption. The coal lies near the base of the 

 exposure in the more western portion of the outcrop, but it is raised by an anticlinal 

 fold to near the top of the creek-banks by the bridge across Rock Creek, along the 

 banks of which the shales are exposed. Nodules containing fossils are found most 

 abundantly at the western exposure on the McKinzie place, only a few having been 

 found near the bridge. 



Below the coal-seam, nodules of various shapes and sizes occur, but they seldom 

 contain fossils and never good ones. Occasionally, as at Mazon Creek, fragments 

 of plants adhere to the outside of the incrusting shale. A single nodule may have 

 adhering to it fragments of 4 genera of plants. The fossiliferous nodules all occur 

 above the coal and are most prolific and abundant immediately above the seam, 

 within the first 10 inches. In the same stratum of shale with the nodules are found 

 abundant impressions of plants in the shale, often perfect fronds being uncovered. 

 (See, in this connection, Twenhofel and Dunbar, 1914, "Nodules with Fishes from 

 the Coal Measures of Kansas," Amer. Journ. Sci., xxxvill, pp. 157-163.) 



G. F. Matthew (408-413) has described numerous genera and species of foot- 

 prints, presumably amphibian, from the Carboniferous of Canada. The impressions 

 indicate small creatures for the most part. Other imprints have been described by 

 Logan, Dawson, Lyell, Marsh, Mudge, and Lea. Since the present work is intended 

 largely for a morphological review, only passing notice can be given to the ichmtes. 

 The literature on the "Ichnites" has been brought together in Hay's "Bibliography 

 and Catalogue of Fossil Vertebrata of North America," pp. 538-553. References 

 since the publication of Hay's catalogue (317) will be found in the bibliography at 

 the end of this work. Footprints are of interest in that they are the only evidence we 

 have of the occurrence of land vertebrates in the Devonian and Mississippian of 

 North America. 



