STATUS OF CERTAIN RHYNCHONELEID BRACHIO- 
PODS FROM THE DEVONIAN OF IOWA 
A. O. THOMAS AND M. A. STAINBROOK 
At the first Annual meeting of the Iowa Academy of Science 1 
at Iowa City, June 23, 1876, Professor Samuel Calvin read a 
paper on “New Species of Paleozoic Fossils.” The Proceedings 
of the meeting do not give an abstract of the paper but in the 
American Naturalist, Vol. 11, pp. 57-58, a brief abstract says that 
“Prof. Samuel Calvin, of the State University of Iowa, described 
seven New Species of Paleozoic Fossils found mainly in Howard 
and Floyd counties, Iowa.” One of these species was Rhynchonella 
alt a which occurs in the Lime Creek shales of Floyd county, one 
of the two counties mentioned. It appears that Calvin distributed 
“a named photographed plate” 2 of these fossils but its fugitive 
character has been such that it has not been generally available to 
students. Calvin’s description of the species was not published 
but we find paleontologists, for example, Williams, 3 Walcott, 4 and 
others to whom specimens had evidently been sent, accepting the 
name. 
In the State Quarry beds, outcropping near Solon and also near 
North Liberty in Johnson county, Iowa, some seventy miles from 
the nearest Lime Creek beds, occurs a fauna rich in fish teeth, 5 
broken brachiopod shells, crinoid stems and some others of less im- 
portance. The only well preserved and readily recognized brachio- 
pod from this formation is one that is congeneric with Calvin’s 
R. alt a and which bears considerable superficial resemblance to it. 
Specimens of this State Quarry shell were distributed by Calvin 
and others under the name Rhynchonella pugnus or Pugnax 
1 This was the first Academy of Science, 1875 to 1884. The present Academy 
was organized in 1887. A pamphlet printed by John P. Irish at Iowa City in 1880 
gives the proceedings of the old Academy up to that year and a short abstract of 
some papers. See Proc. Ia. Acad. Sci., Vol I, pt. ii, p. 9, 1892. The date of the 
meeting at which Calvin read the paper has been given erroneously by several authors 
as 1877. 
2 Walcott, C. D., U. S'. Geol. Surv. Monog. VIII., p. 156, 1884; Whiteaves, 
J. F., Gontrib. Can. Pal., Vol. I, pt. iii, p. 231, 1891; Schuchert, C., U. S. Geol. 
Surv. Bull. 87, p. 335. 
3 Williams, H. S., Amer. Jour. Sci., Vol. 25, 3rd Series, p. 100', 1883. 
4 Walcott, C. D., opus cit. 
5 Eastman, C. R., Iowa Geol. Surv., Vol. XVIII, Dev. Fishes of Iowa. 
