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Volume 9 Number 6 GEOLOGICAL CURATORS’ GROUP Registered Charity No. 296050 The Group is affiliated to the Geological Society of London. It was founded in 1974 to improve the status of geology in museums and similar institutions, and to improve the standard of geological curation in general by: - holding meetings to promote the exchange of information - providing information and advice on all matters relating to geology in museums - the surveillance of collections of geological specimens and information with a view to ensuring their well being - the maintenance of a code of practice for the curation and deployment of collections - the advancement of the documentation and conservation of geological sites - initiating and conducting surveys relating to the aims of the Group. 2011 COMMITTEE Chairman Michael Howe, British Geological Survey, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, U.K. (tel:0115 936 3105; fax: 0115 936 3200; e-mail: [email protected]) Secretary Helen Kerbey, Department of Geology, National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, Wales, U.K. (tel: 029 2057 3213; e-mail: [email protected]) Treasurer John Nudds, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K. (tel: +44 161 275 7861; e-mail: [email protected]) Programme Secretary Steve McLean, The Hancock Museum, The University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE2 4PT, U.K. (tel: 0191 2226765; fax: 0191 2226753; e-mail: [email protected]) Editor of The Matthew Parkes, Natural History Division, National Museum of Ireland, Merrion Street, Geological Curator Dublin 2, Ireland (tel: 353 (0)87 1221967; e-mail: [email protected]) Editor of Coprolite David Craven, Renaissance NW, The Manchester Museum, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K. (e-mail: [email protected]) Recorder Michael Howe, British Geological Survey, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, U.K. (tel:0115 936 3105; fax: 0115 936 3200; e-mail: [email protected]) Minutes Secretary Tony Morgan, Clore Natural History Centre, World Museum Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8EN, U.K. (tel: 0151 478 4286; fax: 0151 478 4390; e-mail: [email protected]) Committee Jeff Liston, Hunterian Museum Store, 13, Thurso Street, Partick, Glasgow, G11 6PE (tel. 0141 3304561; e-mail: [email protected]) Mark Evans, Senior Curator (Natural Sciences), New Walk Museum, 53 New Walk, Leicester, LE1 7EA, UK (tel. 0116 225 4904; e-mail: [email protected] Owen Green, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR (tel: 01865 272071; e-mail: [email protected]) Jonathan D. Radley, Warwickshire Museum, Market Place, Warwick CV34 4SA and School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, England, U.K. (e-mail [email protected]) Co-opted members: Leslie Noè (NatSCA representative), Curator of Natural Science, Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham B4 7XG. (tel. 0121 202 2327; e-mail: [email protected]) Hannah Chalk, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K. (tel: 0795 6208704; e-mail: [email protected]) Cindy Howells, Department of Geology, National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, Wales, U.K. (tel: 029 20 573554; fax: 029 20 667332; e-mail: [email protected]) Tom Sharpe, Department of Geology, National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, Wales, U.K. (tel: 029 20 573265; fax: 029 20 667332; e-mail: [email protected]) Adrian Doyle (ICON Representative) The views expressed by authors in The Geological Curator are entirely their own and do not represent those of either the Geological Curators’ Group or the Geological Society of London unless otherwise stated. © The Geological Curators’ Group 2011. ISSN 0144 - 5294 Cover: DONMG:ZG2316. Erettopterus bilobus. Relatively complete specimen. Scale bar = 10 cm.. See paper by Lomax et al. inside. THE GEOLOGICAL CURATOR VOLUME 9, NO. 6 CONTENTS A COLLECTION OF EURYPTERIDS FROM THE SILURIAN OF LESMAHAGOW COLLECTED PRE 1900 by Dean R. Lomax, James C. Lamsdell and Samuel J. Ciurca, Jr ................................................. 331 NATURE'S INTERACTIVE - CURATING AND DISPLAYING FLEXIBLE SANDSTONE by Helen C. Kerbey ...................................................................................................................... 349 'FANTASTIC FOSSILS' A SPECIAL EXHIBITION SHOWCASING KENT'S GEOLOGICAL HERITAGE HERNE BAY MUSEUM, 12TH MARCH-5TH MAY 2011 by Philip Hadland ......................................................................................................................... 353 WHAT'S IN A (WRONG) NAME? THOUGHTS ON THE TRUE UTILITY OF ELECTRONIC MUSEUM CATALOGUES by Stephen K. Donovan and Matthew Riley ................................................................................. 357 THE EARTH SCIENCES REVIEW: TWENTY YEARS ON by Jeff Liston ................................................................................................................................. 349 BOOK REVIEW ...................................................................................................................................... 370 GEOLOGICAL CURATORS’ GROUP - December 2011 329 330 A COLLECTION OF EURYPTERIDS FROM THE SILURIAN OF LESMAHAGOW COLLECTED PRE 1900 by Dean R. Lomax, James C. Lamsdell and Samuel J. Ciurca, Jr Lomax, D.R., Lamsdell, J.C. and Ciurca, S.J. Jr 2011. A collection of eurypterids from the Silurian of Lesmahagow collected pre 1900 . The Geological Curator 9 (6): 331 - 348. A rediscovered collection of scientifically significant eurypterid fossil specimens, assigned to Slimonia acuminata and Erettopterus bilobus, is held in the Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery. The specimens are from the historically important late Silurian Lesmahagow inlier of Lanarkshire, Scotland and are described herein. The material ranges from partial to complete specimens, with a wide range in size of both genera. Most specimens have either no or minimal damage. Some interesting fea- tures include the orientation and preservation of the eurypterids. Dean Lomax, Doncaster Museum & Art Gallery, Chequer Road, Doncaster, DN1, UK; email [email protected]; James Lamsdell, Department of Geology and Paleontological Institute, University of Kansas, 1475 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA; email [email protected]; Samuel J. Ciurca, 2457 Culver Road, Rochester, New York 14609, USA; email [email protected]. Received 23rd May 2011. Introduction History of the eurypterid collection Eurypterids, commonly referred to as "sea scorpi- The eurypterids and a few phyllocarid specimens ons", represent a group of extinct Palaeozoic (late were donated to the Doncaster Museum and Art Ordovician to the late Permian) aquatic chelicerate Gallery in the 1960s by the Dick Institute in arthropods, known from at least 200 species (Tetlie Kilmarnock, Scotland (C. Howes, pers. comm. 2007). The first eurypterid was described by DeKay 2010). They were part of a larger private collection (1825) from the Silurian of North America, while the donated to the Dick Institute in the late 1890s by Dr first recognised specimens from the United Kingdom Hunter-Selkirk for its opening in April 1901. In were discovered by quarrymen in Scotland (Salter 1963-64 the Dick Institute donated a relatively small 1856). Eurypterid fossils are found around the world, collection of natural history specimens to the newly although complete eurypterids are rare with body and formed Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery (previ- appendage fragments often the only parts preserved ously Beechfield House Museum) including bird (Selden 1984). They include the largest arthropods to skins and animal remains that were catalogued into have ever lived, the pterygotids (Braddy et al. 2008), the museum's ever growing collection. which may have attained such sizes through compe- tition with armoured fish (Lamsdell and Braddy Unfortunately, no written recollection (bar a few 2010). minor labels) of the eurypterids was catalogued into the museum's collections, but it appears that the The importance of old or misplaced/recovered col- eurypterids were donated in 1963-64 and remained lections to current research on all aspects of uncatalogued due to a shortage of specialised staff. A eurypterid palaeobiology has been noted in recent small minority of the eurypterid specimens have their publications. Lost holotypes are often necessarily original labels from the Dick Institute, some of which replaced by material preserved in museum collec- include the name of Dr Hunter-Selkirk. tions, thus specimens such as this recovered collec- tion are important (Tetlie and Rabano 2007 and Tetlie John Hunter-Selkirk was a prolific collector and fos- et al. 2007). This paper briefly describes 23 sil hunter who amassed a large collection of fossils, eurypterid specimens held in the palaeontology col- antiquities and early printed books (Macnair and lection at Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, dis- Mort 1908). Perhaps Selkirk's most important fossil cusses how the fossils were acquired by the museum held in his collection was the Scottish Silurian their original donor and details of their probable scorpion; Allopalaeophonus caledonicus previously provenance and history. Each specimen