BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 59 



found in the Upper Old Red Sandstone of Ireland and England 

 associated with land-plants (Archaeopteris, Sphenopteris, Bothroden- 

 dron, Ulodendron, Stigmaria, Catamites) , fishes (Coccosteus) and ar- 

 thropods (Eurypterus)" (74, 1003, 1004). 



Steinmann in his Einfilhrung in die Palceontologie merely states 

 that: "These remarkable Crustacea reaching a length of 2 meters 

 appear in the Cambrian and Silurian in association with marine 

 animals, in the Devonian they live with the armor-plated fishes in 

 the Old Red, in the Carboniferous and Permic they are found in 

 fresh-water" (266, 373). 1 Haug speaks of the salt and gypsum de- 

 posits of New York as lagoon formations, and includes here also the 

 eurypterid beds at the end of the Siluric, thus reaching the same 

 conclusion that many American authors have come to (112, 626) . 2 



Walther in the chapter entitled Das Aufbtiihen der Tierstdmme 

 in Silur in the Geschichte der Erde und des Lebens has accepted the 

 statement of several American geologists that the eurypterids were 

 marine organisms saying that they lived in sea-water of normal sa- 

 linity "as the section in North America proves with certainty" (294, 

 251). The reference cited for this proof is Sarle's paper on the fauna 

 from the Salina of Western New York. The significance of this oc- 

 currence will be discussed below, but we may say at this point that 

 this instance seems hardly to furnish proof positive of a marine 

 habitat. He also calls attention to the restriction of the eurypterids 

 to the black shales, and of the absence of marine forms in associa- 

 tion with the merostomes. 3 He notes that in synchronous forma- 

 tions the eurypterids are found only in isolated localities. "Thus is 

 the upper Silurian of Pennsylvania devoid of Eurypterus for a thick- 

 ness of 500 meters" (294, 251). Walther's explanation of the isolated 

 occurrences seems hardly to accord with the facts. He assumes that 

 the regions devoid of eurypterid remains were great salty lakes cut 

 off from the sea in which the eurypterids are supposed to have lived. 4 



Ernst Stromer in the Lehrbuch der Palaeozoologie has added noth- 



1 "Diese merkwtirdigen, bis 2m. langen Krebse erscheinen in Kambrium und Silur in Begleitung 

 von Meerestieren, im Devon leben sie mit Panzerfischen in Oldred, im Karbon und Perm finden sie 

 sich in Siiszwasserablagerungen." 



2 "Les formations lagunaires jouent un role peu important et Ton ne peutguereciter comment elles 

 que des gres et des argiles rouges, qui, dans l'etat de New-York et sur les bords de la Lena, renferment 

 du gypse et du sel gemme, puis les couches d Giganio sir aces et a Poissons, par lesquelles se termine 

 souent le Silurien." 



3 "Hier folgt auf den fossilreichen Riffkalk ein dunkler Kalkmergel, der kein einziges der vorher 

 hier so iippig gedeihenden Meerestiere enthalt._ Nur ein paar Schalen von Orthoceras wurden durch 

 Sturme in die Bucht hineingetrieben, und einige geniigsame Zweischaler lebten darin. Dann folgt 

 ein schwarzer Mergel, reich an Eurypterus, und sobald dieses Gestein verschwindet, fehlen auch die 

 Schildtiere und treten erst wieder auf sobald der schwarze Mergel nochmals erscheint." (294, 251.) 



4 Grosse Muschelkrebse (Leperditia) mogen hier einen salzigen Binnensee ohne Verbindung mit 

 dem Meere belebt haben, so dasz die Schildtiere nicht hineinzudringen vermochten (294 ,251). 



