BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES II 



CHAPTER I 



Systematic Review of the Occurrence of the Eurypterida in 

 Each Period from the Pre-Cambric Through the Permic 



introductory 



From all over the world there have been recorded fourteen genera 

 and between 150 and 160 species of eurypterids. Of these consider- 

 ably more than half occur in the Siluric, about a third occurring in 

 the Upper Siluric alone. No remains have been found in beds higher 

 than the Permic, and until 1882 it was supposed that there were none 

 below the Siluric. In that year Walcott discovered a few fragments 

 in the Utica shale, of Upper Ordovicic age, and an even more remark- 

 able fauna in the Pre-Cambric Belt Terrane of Montana. In 1901 

 Beecher discovered an almost perfect eurypterid in the Upper Cambric 

 of Missouri. These discoveries, together with several more recent 

 ones from the Ordovicic, show that the Eurypterida ranged from the 

 Pre-Cambric through the Permic, reaching their acme in numbers, 

 development and diversity of types in the Upper Siluric. In the 

 following review of the occurrence North America alone will be con- 

 sidered first and then the rest of the world. Until the Monograph on 

 the Eurypterida of New York appeared there was no one book con- 

 taining all the information about the North American species, and 

 it was necessary for one in quest of such knowledge to search labori- 

 ously through state reports and numerous periodicals. Now all the 

 data have been systematically brought together and greatly added 

 to, so that it will be unnecessary to dwell at great length upon the 

 American formations. For the rest of the world, unfortunately, 

 there is no one book to which the student may be referred, so that 

 one is compelled to consult the literature of each country in each 

 continent thus gradually bringing together the work that has been 

 done. Because the foreign periodicals and books now out of print 

 are inaccessible to many, a more detailed account will be given of 

 the distribution, and the nature and correlation of the formations in 

 other countries than is required for America. 



NORTH AMERICA 



Pre-Cambric. The earliest representative of the eurypterids is 

 Beltina danai discovered by Walcott in the Greyson shales in the 



