I 86 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The author of the genus never felt certain of its true graptolite nature 



and always cited it among the doubtful genera of graptolites. In the 



Graptolitcs of the Qziebcc group, his principal work on this class, he states 



[p. 1 8]: 



Still more obscure, and perhaps remote in its analogies with grapto- 

 lites, is the genus Inocaulis, consisting of flattened scabrous stems, asso- 

 ciated with Dictyoncina in the shale of the Niagara formation, which, from 

 their carbonaceous substance and apparent graptolitic texture, I have 

 referred to the Graptolitidae, 



supplementing this note on page 49 as follows : 



The genus Inocaulis was proposed for some flattened stipes with a 

 scabrous surface, which have the appearance of denticles upon the margins. 

 These stipes grow in close groups or tufts, and are bifurcating or branched 

 in their upper portions. No positive evidence of cellules has been observed. 

 The presence of denticles, together with a corneous and carbonaceous 

 substance, have induced me to place this fossil among the Graptolitidae. 



In subsequent years a number of species with irregularly branching 

 rhabdosomes were referred in America to this new genus. They are : 

 I . b e 1 1 u s Hall and Whitfield from the Niagaran of Ohio, I. arbuscula 

 Ulrich from the Cincinnatian of Ohio. I. divaricatus Hall from the 

 Waldron shale of Indiana, I. anastomoticus Ringueberg from the 

 Rochester shale, New York, I . cervicornis, diffusus., phycoides 

 ramulosus and walker! Spencer, all from the Niagaran of Hamilton, 

 Ont. and James referred a doubtful form (Licrophycus f 1 a b e 1 1 u m) 

 to this oenus. 



In Europe little notice was taken of Inocaulis, probably because Hall 

 himself expressed doubt of its graptolitic nature. This doubt still finds its 

 expression in the fact that Freeh cites it [Leth. pal. p. 5S0 1 among the 

 doubtful genera. Lindstrom (1888) compared a species from the Wenlock 

 group of the Island of Gotland with I. bellus and Holm doubts [ 1890, 

 p.4] whether this form belongs to the true graptolites since it shows no 

 thecae. 



Pocta [1894, p. 197] has described three species (I. aculeata, 

 attrita, and dumetosa) from the Siluric of Bohemia and given a 



