Charles D. and Mary Waux Walcott Research Fund 
PERMIAN BRACHIOPODS FROM 
CENTRAL OREGON 
By G. ARTHUR COOPER 
Head Curator of Geology 
United States National Museum 
Smithsonian Institution 
(WitH 12 Pirates) 
INTRODUCTION 
The Permian brachiopods described herein come from a little- 
known area of Paleozoic rocks lying about 30 miles east of the 
geographical center of Oregon. It is about 8 miles southwest of 
Suplee and about 15 miles southeast of Paulina. The country is in 
the headwaters of Grindstone and Twelvemile Creeks which are 
tributaries of the Crooked River. The area is one of great structural 
complexity which includes Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian 
beds overlain by Triassic and Jurassic deposits. 
Washburne (1903) was the first to report the Paleozoic sediments 
of this region, but Packard (1928, 1932) was the first to recognize 
Mississippian and Permian deposits. In 1937 Merriam and Berthi- 
aume (published in 1943) made studies and a geological map of part 
of the region. Read and Merriam (1940) visited this area and col- 
lected Paleozoic plants. Merriam (1942) described Mississippian and 
Permian corals from these rocks. The collections made by Merriam, 
Berthiaume, and Read, and those earlier assembled by Packard and 
his students, include many interesting Mississippian species as well 
as the Permian specimens described below. I was invited by Dr. Mer- 
riam to describe these fossils. The Permian (Coyote Butte forma- 
tion) fossils are the first to be finished but description of the Missis- 
sippian brachiopods is scheduled for the near future. 
The collection submitted by Dr. Merriam consists of materials 
collected by University of Oregon students prior to the studies of 
Merriam and Berthiaume. Unfortunately, the geographic and strati- 
graphic data with many of these specimens are inadequate. Never- 
theless, for the sake of completeness it was necessary to describe and 
SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 134, NO. 12 
