326 S. WELLER FAUNA OF THE FERN GLEN FORMATION 



mon in the Kentucky locality. Several species of Zaphrentis which are 

 not identical with, but are allied to, those of the Fern Glen fauna are 

 present in the fauna. Aside from the corals, only a single species of 

 brachiopod is contained in the collection, RhipidomeJIa oiveni H. & C, 

 which is a close ally and is perhaps not distinct from R. michelinia, the 

 most abundant brachiopod in the Fern Glen fauna. The only blastoid 

 recognized in the Fern Glen fauna is Pentremites decussatus, a species 

 which was originally described from Button Mould knob, and an exam- 

 ination of the type specimen in the collection of Mr Frank Springer has 

 shown the identification of the Fern Glen specimens to be correct. 



Although our knowledge of this basal Knobstone fauna is incomplete, 

 the evidence available seems to indicate that a reasonably close correla- 

 tion between it and the Fern Glen fauna can be made. 



THE LAKE VALLEY BEDS 1 * 



A highly interesting Lower Mississippian fauna has been described bv 

 Miller 15 and by Springer 16 from Lake Valley, New Mexico. The list of 

 species given by Springer is much more complete than that of Miller, 

 but both lists need revision, in the light of the more recent investigation 

 of the Mississippian faunas of the Mississippi valley. Any comparison 

 of the fauna with that of the Fern Glen beds is entirely inadequate, in 

 the absence of actual collections for study, but some suggestive observa- 

 tions may be made from the published lists alone. 



The crinoids of the fauna, which constitute a very considerable ele- 

 ment, point strongly to its Lower Burlington age. Springer says : 



"Every one of the species named belongs to the Lower Burlington (leaving 

 out A. copei, which was described from Lake valley), and the new species are 

 of the same types. Not a single species has been discovered that is peculiar 

 to the Upper Burlington or any other group of the Subcarboniferous." 



This same statement would be perfectly applicable to the crinoid 

 fauna of the Fern Glen formation, as all of the previously known species 

 occur in the Lower Burlington, and the new species are members of 

 genera which are present in the same fauna and are mostly more or less 

 closely allied to previously known species of that horizon. 



Among the brachiopods in the fauna, such species as Athyris lamellosa, 

 Schizophoria sivallovi, Leptcena rhomb oidaJis, RhipidomeJIa michelinia, 



14 Since this paper was written a collection of Lake Valley fossils has come into the 

 hands of the writer through the generosity of Mr Frank Springer. Examination of this 

 collection has confirmed and very much strengthened the supposed similarity of the 

 fauna with that of the Fern Glen formation. 



15 Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, vol. 4, pp. 306-315, pi. 7. 

 18 American Journal of Science (3), vol. 27, pp. 97-103. 



