82 Upper Cretaceous Fauna, from Tennessee [280 



horizon as Owl Creek. These collections were sent to Conrad 

 and Gabb for study and their contributions appeared in 1860 

 in Volume IV of the Journal of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences. In this volume Conrad described fifty-four 

 additional new species and Gabb four new species collected 

 from northern Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. Since 

 the work of these men, very little has been done on this un- 

 usually prolific fauna. Geologists have often visited Owl 

 Creek and collections have been made but nothing has been 

 published on the systematic paleontology except for minor 

 contributions. 12 The most recent check list of the Eipley 

 collections in the National Museum from this region is that 

 published by Stephenson in 1914. 13 



STATE OF PRESERVATION OF FOSSILS 



A comparison of specimens from the Coon Creek collection 

 with forms from Owl Creek in the National Museum shows 

 that the shells from the former locality include many small 

 and fragile individuals, and that many individuals present 

 delicate shell parts, internal and external markings not so 

 well defined, or entirely absent in the Tippah County Speci- 

 mens. The hinge areas, muscle scars, buttresses, pallial lines 

 and external sculpture are as sharp and as well defined in 

 such genera as Cucullaea, Glycymeris, Crassatellites, Nucula, 

 Cardium, Trigonia, Paranomia, etc., as in the shells of Ter- 

 tiary and Eecent bivalves. Even the ligaments are occasion- 

 ally preserved and in their natural positions in attached 

 valves of Cardium n. sp. Cyprimeria n. sp. and Leptosolen 

 biplicata Conrad. Many of the Gastropoda, including species 

 of such genera as Liopeplum, Gyrodes, Ptychosyca, Voluto- 

 morpha, Pugnellus, etc., are brilliantly glazed. The shells of 

 Eutrephoceras, Baculites, Scaphites, and Turrilites are well 



12 Ball, 1890, Trans. Wagner Free Inst. Sci., Philadelphia, vol. iii, 

 pt. 1, p. 73. 



Ball, 1907, Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. iv, pt. 1, pp. 1-23. 

 "'Stephenson, L. W., loc. cit., p. 24, tables 1-9, 1914. 



