IO THE HABITAT OF THE EURYPTERIDA 



I wish to express my thanks to Dr. R. Ruedemann, who allowed 

 me to study the large collection of New York eurypterids at the 

 State Museum in Albany; to Dr. CD. Walcott, who showed me the 

 large Beltina fauna and the beautiful specimens of Limulava from the 

 Middle Cambric Stephen shale of Canada in the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution at Washington, D. C; and to Mr. Mcintosh at the Museum 

 of the Natural History Society, St. John, New Brunswick, for informa- 

 tion about the age of the Little River Plant beds and for the privilege 

 of being allowed to inspect the type material from those beds. ' 



To the courtesy and helpfulness of Mr. Henry R. Howland, Super- 

 intendent of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, I owe the oppor- 

 tunity of studying every specimen of eurypterid in the museum of 

 that Society. Furthermore, Mr. Howland loaned me a number of 

 specimens to describe, and I was thus able to show the existence of 

 two species of a pulmonate gastropod, Hercynella, in the Bertie water- 

 lime. It was because of Mr. Howland 's interest in papers dealing 

 with the geological problems of the Buffalo region that the present 

 contribution appears in the Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural 

 Sciences. 



With the fullest appreciation for the inspiration and guidance 

 which I have received, I gladly acknowledge my indebtedness to Pro- 

 fessor Amadeus W. Grabau. He was one of the first to advocate the 

 fluviatile habitat of the eurypterids and one of my earliest geological 

 recollections was of a discussion between him and a number of men 

 who argued for the marine habitat, a discussion to which I listened 

 with the utmost interest although I was then not in a position to 

 weigh the evidence brought forward on either side. More than four 

 years ago Professor Grabau suggested that I take up the problem, 

 with the purpose of marshalling all of the available evidence in proof 

 of an hypothesis which he had strong theoretic reasons for believing 

 to be true. Throughout the work I have profitted by the helpful 

 criticisms and keen suggestions of a man who has made such problems 

 his specialty for twenty-five years, and without whose assistance this 

 paper certainly could not have been written. The method of treat- 

 ment which I have used is based upon the principles of interpreta- 

 tional geology expounded in the Palaeontological Laboratory of Co- 

 lumbia University, and with the hope that this paper shall not prove 

 unworthy of the teachings there set forth, I informally dedicate it to 

 the American School of Philosophic Geologists, among the leaders of 

 whom Professor Grabau stands so preeminent. 



