Mem. Nat. Mus. Vict., XI, 1939. 
GRAPTOLITES OF AUSTRALIA: BIBLIOGRAPHY 
AND HISTORY OF RESEARCH 
By R. A. Keble, F.G.S. 
(Palaeontologist, National Museum, Melbourne) 
and 
Professor W. N. Benson, B.A., B.Sc. 
(University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.) 
The Australian graptolite fauna is probably the most 
complete in the world, certainly in regard to its Ordovician 
components, a fact clearly appreciated by McCoy. He had 
ready for the press descriptions and figures of most of the 
species afterwards described in James Hall’s Monograph 
published in 1865, which may be regarded as the basis of 
systematic graptolite research, when he received from Hall a 
proof of his figures. McCoy immediately conceded him 
priority and adopted his specific names. Had Hall delayed 
sending his proof, McCoy would certainly have published his 
figures and descriptions and his name would have been just 
as prominent in the literature of graptolites as Hall’s. Com- 
menting on “Graptolites (Didymograpsus) fruticosus (Hall 
sp.),” McCoy says, “this is the first Victorian graptolite I 
ever saw, and, as it was then a new sjiecies, I had named it in 
my MSS. after Mr. J. A. Panton, who found it in the soft 
shales of Bendigo, of which goldfield he was then Warden, 
and in whose hospitable camp I was then able to recognize 
the true geological age of the gold-bearing slates of the colony 
for the first time. The same species was subsequently dis- 
covered by Professor Hall in Canada ; and as he kindly sent 
me an early proof of his illustration before publication, I of 
course adopted his name as above” (Prod. Pal. Vict. I, p. 13, 
1874. Melb.). Thus, that well-known species Tetragraptus 
fruticosus J. Hall escaped the specific name pantoni McCoy 
only by months. 
The present generation of research workers can scarcely 
realize the difficulties that confronted the indefatigable 
pioneers in Australian graptolite research. True, the geolo- 
gists of the Geological Survey of Victoria collected most of 
McCoy’s specimens, but not all. We find McCoy himself at 
Bendigo and at other places. Australia was then largely an 
unsettled country with its ways of communication yet 
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