Cephalopoda of the Cincinnati Group
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Cephalopoda of the Cincinnati Group. 235 CEPHALOPODA OF THE CINCINNATI GROUP. BY PROF. JOSEPH F. JAMES, Custodian Cincinnati Society of Natural History. The class CEPHALOPODA is represented in the rocks of the Cincinnati Group as exposed in this vicinity by six genera. Thirty-seven species and two varieties have been catalogued as found in the Group. The number given by the present writer is thirty-one species, which seem to be well characterized, two new species being described. The genus Orthoceras is the largest and has thirteen species. Endoceras and Cyrtoceras come next with five and six each. Lituites with four, Colpoceras with one and Gomphoceras with two. All but four of the species belong to the straight, longicone shells, the four species of Lituites being the only coiled ones. The two orders into which the class is divided are best distinguished by the absence or presence of the external shell. All those species of which remains have been found in this locality were provided with an external shell, generally straight, divided into chambers called septa, each of which is connected with its neighbor by means of a tube known as the siphuncle. The animal lived in the outer chamber of the shell and formed a wall across the one behind it, in which it had before resided. The Nautilidce or Nautilus Family is the only one now living of this order, the other two families, Orthoceratidce. and Ammonitidce, being known only by fossil representatives. Of the three families the Orthoceratidce is the oldest, having represen- tatives well developed in the lowest fossil bearing rocks. The Ammonitidce is most common in the secondary formations, particularly the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Liassic, while the Nautilidce, ranges from the Lower Silurian age to modern times. Some species of Orthoceras attained a length of six feet, and some Ammonites were three feet in diameter. Ammonites did and Nautili do float with the shell down and the tenta- cles expanded on the surface of the water, but creep on the bottom with the shell raised on the back. Orthoceras, on the other hand, is sup- posed by Woodward to have swum in a perpendicular position, head downwards. Whether they crept on the bottom with a six-foot tower on their backs can not now be determined. It has long seemed to the writer a remarkable fact, that, in spite of the amount of palaeontblogical work done by innumerable writers, so few attempts have been made to collect the scattered descriptions and render 236 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. them easily accessible to students. In the present paper the original descriptions of all the species have been consulted, and whenever possi- ble, of the genera also. These last are often particularly difficult to find, but are, at the same time, of special importance to the student. There can be but little doubt but that "many synonyms have been made, because of the inability to have all the descriptions together to compare. Others have resulted from considering small and individual differences as being worthy of specific rank. Still others from the fragmentary condition of the specimens described. All zoologists are aware of the variations produced in animal forms by varied conditions. But in geological studies these individual variations do not seem to be considered. Descriptions are made from single and often imperfect specimens. The occurrence of a fossil in another stratum has been thought, if there is the least variation, sufficient for a new name. While if found in another country it is seldom regarded as identical. The present paper is offered as a contribution toward the complete collection of descriptions of the fossils of the Cincinnati Group. At the close of it will be found a brief bibliography of the works referred to. Order CEPHALOPODA. Family ORTHOCERATID^;. Shell straight or curved; conical, or swollen at the chamber of habitation; siphuncle eccentric or central.* SYNOPSIS OF GENERA. Shell straight; conical; siphuncle mostly small and dilated between the chambers. ORTHOCERAS, I. Shell straight; conical; septa depressed on one side, arched on the other. COLPOCERAS, 2. Shell straight; conical; siphuncle large, marked or ridged by the septa. ENDOCERAS, 3. Shell fusiform or bottle-shaped. GOMPHOCERAS, 4. Shell curved, or partly involute. CYRTOCERAS, 5. Family NAUTILIDvF:. Shell planorbiform; sutures simple; whorls (in our species) in contact. LITUITES, 6. * It should be understood that this definition is intended to cover only the species of this Group. Cephalopoda of the Cincinnati Group. 237 Genus i. ORTHOCERAS, Breynius. 1732. De melonibus petrefactis montis Carmel. Miller, 1875, Cin. Quar. Jour. Sci., II, 124. Shell conical, straight; greater part of posterior end traversed by convex, transverse septa; transverse section circular, oval or more or less triangular; siphuncle cylindrical, or dilated between the chambers, vary- ing in position from the centre to the outer margin; surface smooth, or longitudinally, or transversely lined. KEY TO SPECIES. Septa distant; siphuncle eccentric. O. amplicameratuni, 1. Septa approximate; siphuncle varying in position. 0. dyeri, 2. Siphuncle central; surface smooth. O. mohri, 3. Surface finely striated transversely. O. junceum, 4. Siphuncle eccentric ; surface with transverse lines. O. transversum, 5. Siphuncle lateral; surface with obscure, longitudinal ridges. O. ortoni, 6. Surface with profoundly wrinkled longitudinal lines. O. anellum, 7. Siphuncle sub-central; septa annulated, concave. O. annulatum, 8. Surface with low, rounded, longitudinal ridges. O. turbidutn, 9. Siphuncle cylindrical; shell semi-cylindrical. O. hindei, 10. Edges of septa raised; narrow, raised, longitudinal line along one side of shell. O. duseri, 11. Shell surrounded by twTo tubes; outer tubes without septa. O. carleyi, 12. Siphuncle expanded into bladder-like rings at septa; surface marked by undulated, thread-like, longitudinal lines. O. tenuifilum, 13. I. O. AMPLICAMERATUM, Hall. 1847. (Pal. N. Y. I, 205. PI. 51, figs. la-g.) Teretely cylindrical, extremely elongated, very gradually tapering; sepia very convex, distant; siphuncle eccentric, small; section circular; sur- face unknown. Locality: Cincinnati, Lebanon, O. The septa in this species are quite large and distant. It is easily recognized by this character and by the very gradual tapering. 238 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 2. O. DYERI, S. A. Miller. 1875. Cin. Quar. Jour. Sci., II, 125, fig. n. Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., III, 236, PL 7, fig. 7. O. meeki, S. A. M., Cin. Quar. Jour. Sci., II, 126, fig. 12. O. byrnesi, S. A. M., Ibid., II, 126, fig. 13. J. C. S. N. H., IV, 319, PL 8, fig. 8. O. fosteri,* S. A. M., Cin. Quar. Jour. Sci., II, 127. J. C. S. N. H., IV, 319, PI. 8, figs. 7, 7a. O. cincinnaliense, S. A. M., Cin. Quar. Jour. Sci., II, 127. J. C. S. N. H.,IV, 319, PL 8, figs. 5, 5k O. hatti, S. A. M., Cin. Quar. Jour. Sci., II, 128, fig. 14. O. harperi, S. A. M., Ibid., II, 128. J. C. S. N. H., IV, 319, PL 8, figs. 6, ba. Shell medium size or large, gradually tapering; septa arched, distant from one-fifth to two-ninths the diameter of the shell; siphuncle subcentral or eccentric, varying in position and in size; outer shell unknown. Locality: Cincinnati and Warren and Clinton Counties, O. The numerous synonyms under this species show its variability. The supposed species differ in what may be considered individual variations, or those produced by age. It is impossible to distinguish them by either the descriptions or the figures, they are all so much alike. It has been claimed that the O. fosteri is the same as O. duseri, but no mention is made in the description of the former of the most characteristic feature of the latter, viz., the interrupted line along one side of the shell. 3. O. MOHRI, S. A. Miller. 1875. (Cin. Quar. Jour. Sci., II, 124, fig. 10.) Shell elongated, tapering regularly, .16 of an inch to an inch; septa rather strongly arched, distant one-fourth the diameter of the shell; siph- unde central, with appearance of a connected series of oval beads; greatest diameter of siphuncle about one-fourth the diameter of the shell. Outer chamber one-fourth the length of shell; surface smooth, septa not being shown. Locality: Versailles, Indiana. The species is best recognized by the smooth surface. It does not seem to have been found immediately about Cincinnati. 4. O. JUNCEUM, Hall. 1847. (Pal. N. Y. I, 204, PL 47, %s. 3 a-f.) Slender, terete, cylindrical, gradually tapering; septa thin ; siphuncle small, central; section circular; surface finely striated transversely. Cephalopoda of the Cincinnati Group. 239 Locality : Cincinnati, Lebanon, Ohio. Distinguished by the centrally situated siphuncle in connection with the transverse striae. First described from the Trenton at Watertown, N. Y., but since found in the vicinity of Cincinnati. 5. O. TRANSVERSUM, S. A. M. 1875. (Cin. Quar. Jour. Sci. II, 129, fig. 15.) Shell medium size; septa arched, distant one-fourth or one-fifth the diameter of the shell; siphuncle eccentric; outer shell thin, marked by trans- verse lines. Locality: Columbia Avenue and Eden Park, Cincinnati. 150 to 200 feet above low water. Somewhat similar to the preceding, but with an eccentric siphuncle. The shell is also larger and the septa more distant. 6. O. ORTONI, Meek. 1872. Meek. Pro. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1872, p. 330. Meek. Ohio Geol. Pal., I, 155, PL 13, fig. 8. Miller. Cin. Quar. Jour. Sci., II, 130. Shell rather rapidly expanding; section oval or circular; septa close; siphuncle lateral, but not marginal; surface of cast with traces of regular, obscure, longitudinal ridges; outer shell unknown. Locality: Cincinnati. The traces of longitudinal ridges found in this and two of the suc- ceeding species serve to distinguish them from the rest of the species.