CHAPTER 9. PERMIAN FOSSILS 



Collecting Localities 



The Permian area of outcrop in Ohio is smaller than that of any other Paleozoic system. 

 It forms a narrow crescent bounded by the Pennsylvanian outcrop areas on the west and north 

 and the Ohio River in the southeast. Few of our Permian beds contain fossils. Fossil plants 

 are found in some abundance above and below the coals. The most abundant animal remains 

 are those of the Washington formation but they are much scarcer than in the underlying Penn- 

 sylvanian. 



The best plant collections have been obtained at Cameron and Clarington in Monroe County 

 and at Beckett Station, Crabapple, and Vallonia in Belmont County. The localities for animal 

 remains are the ones mentioned above for Belmont County and Little Short Creek, Shadyside, 

 Pleasant Grove, and Raven Rocks in the same county; Clarington, in Monroe County; and the 

 following localities in Washington County: one mile east of Elba and Marietta. 



The Commoner Fossils 



PLANTS. Ferns and sections of tree trunks are found especially in the Washington for- 

 mation in Monroe and Belmont counties. The genera are the same as some of the Pennsyl- 

 vanian genera. They are: Pecopteris , several species; Neuropteris , Alethopteris , one 

 species, Sphenophyllum , one species; Sigillaria , Annularia , and Cordaites, one species each. 



B RACHIOPOD A . A single species of Lingula (see fig. 295), L. permiana , is recorded. 

 Some specimens are nearly half an inch long but the majority of them are smaller. The 

 species is common in black shales near the top of the Washington formation. 



PELECYPODA . Three genera of pelecypods occur in our Permian but their generic 

 assignment is doubtful in each case. The genera may be recognized from the descriptions 

 that follow. 



Pleurophorus (?) ohioensis (fig. 349) is longer than high, with beaks near one end of the 

 shell. The ornamentation of fine concentric ridges is inconspicuous. The 

 species is found in the Elm Grove limestone, near the base of the Washington 

 formation. 



Fig. 34» 



Fig. 350 



Glossites (?) belmontensis (fig. 350) is similar to the preceding species 

 and differs from it only in the following respects. The shell is more elon- 

 gate, the beaks nearer one end of the shell, and less prominent. It occurs 

 with Pleurophorus (?) ohioensis at the same local- 

 ity. 



Two species referred doubtfully to Edmondia (fig. 351) are 

 proportionally higher and shorter than the last two species and much 

 smaller, i.e. about l/4 inch long. These two species are from the 

 lower half of the Washington formation. 



120 



Fig. 351 



