DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR

BULLETIN 595

FAUNA OF THE SO-CALLED BOONE CHERT

NEAR

BATESVILLE, ARKANSAS

BY

GEORGE H. GIRTY

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1915

CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction. . ............................................................ 5

Description of species. .................................................... 23

Coelenterata ........................................................... 23

Bryozoa. .............................................................. 24

Brachiopoda. ......................................................... 25

Pelecypoda .'.........-................................................ 34

Gastropoda. ........................................................... 36

Ostracoda. ............................................................ 39

Register of localities ...................................................... 4.0

Index ............................................................ ... ...... 45

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATES I, II. Fossils of the chert........................................... 42,44 -V

3

FAUNA OF THE SO-CALLED BOONE CHEET NEM 

BATESVILLE, ARKANSAS.

By GEORGE H. GIRTY.

INTRODUCTION.

The geologic section. The rocks'considered in this paper are of Mississippian age and their outcrops are found in the vicinity of Batesville, Ark., though of course their distribution extends to other and 

remote parts of the State.

The portion of the geologic section at Batesville to which I shall 

refer comprises in ascending order a series of pure limestones of 

unmeasured thickness, a series of fine-grained impure and cherty limestones 200 to 250 feet thick, a series of black and green shales about 

225 feet thick, and a massive quartz sandstone to which a thickness 

varying from 30 to 200 feet has been assigned. The first two series 

have been referred to the Boone limestone, but the paleontologic evidence here recorded indicates rather strongly that the cherty limestone 

is younger than the true Boone and should really be classed as a distinct formation. In the present paper I shall refer to these two series 

of strata as the limestone member and the chert member, respectively.

The shale overlying the chert member is the Moorefield, which in 

turn is overlain by the Batesville sandstone. The Moorefield shale 

as at present defined contains at its base a thin and perhaps local 

development of impure limestone which H. S. Williams once called 

the Spring Creek limestone, but the name was preoccupied and probably can not be retained for this occurrence. The evidence here presen ted seems to show that both lithologically and f aunally the "Spring 

Creek limestone" belongs with the underlying chert member. With 

the Moorefield redefined so as to exclude these calcareous beds at its 

base the formation would become much more uniform in lithologic 

and paleontologic characters.

The fossils that form the subject of this account are poorly preserved, and as a fauna they comprise little that is new, almost all the 

species being found in the overlying "Spring Creek limestone." Their 

chief interest, indeed, resides in this fact and in the fact that they come 

from a series of rocks which has usually, if not always, been classified 

as part of the Boone limestone, though the fauna of the Boone, as at

5
6 FAUNA OF BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

present known, is widely different from that of the "Spring Creek 

limestone" and that of this chert member.

The rocks that furnished these fossils have been studied and identified only in the vicinity of Batesville, the outcrops especially examined by me occurring on the hills east and west of Spring Creek and 

along the railroad up White River west of Spring Creek. ^

The south face of the hills at the debouchure of Spring Creek into 

the White River valley, west of Batesville, is occupied by the Moorefield shale and the Batesville sandstone. These beds dip south and > 

east,.so that the chert member may be found by going northward up 

Spring Creek or westward up White River. The contact of the chert 

with the black shale and limestone of the Moorefield is at Ruddells * 

Mill, on Spring Creek one-half mile from White River junction, and also 

along the railroad three-fourths of a mile west of the same point in 

the White River bluffs. Possibly the same contact occurs 1 mile north «- 

of Sharps Crossroads (7 miles northeast of Batesville in the Batesville 

quadrangle), where a hillside is covered with fragments of light-gray, 

hard, earthy limestone and chert, weathered reddish and yellowish > 

on the outside, which seem to belong to the chert member, although 

the country adjacent to the south is occupied by the Moorefield shale. 

The attitude of some thin sandstones apparently belonging to the » 

Batesville, which outcrop one-half mile to the southwest, suggests the 

possibility of an intervening fault in this direction.

Presumably if the outcrops were followed northward up Spring 4 

Creek or westward up White River from the points where the top of 

the chert member was shown, its basal contact would also be found. * 

In fact, the axis of a low anticline does bring to the surface about 

1^ miles west of White River junction a whitish limestone which may 

be the limestone member; if it is, then along White River the chert 

occupies a position stratigraphically and geographically intermediate f 

between the limestone member and the Moorefield shale. AlthoughO

I did not follow these cherty beds up Spring Creek to their basal con- v 

tact with the underlying limestone, I did determine their relations 

along the road to Bethesda Church. This road crosses Spring Creek at 

Ruddells Mill at about the top of the chert member, which also composes most of the high Tallow Hill on the west side of the stream. ^~ 

Chert is indicated by fragments or poor outcrops farther northwest 

along this road down the gradual descent to Mill Creek, but about 2 

miles from Ruddells Mill these cherty beds are replaced by good outcrops of whitish crinoidal limestone, apparently very pure, and massive 

to slabby in structure. The actual contact was not here seen. The 

contact is well shown, however, in a quarry about 2 miles north of * 

Batesville on the road to Blowing Cave. The quarry is in a massive, 

fine-grained, pure, light-gray limestone, which is called an oolite in 

the trade, but is entirely without oolitic structure. The limestone
INTRODUCTION. 7

of the quarry contains no chert heels, but it is overlain hy thin-bedded 

cherts which are warped by subsidence into irregularities in the limestone surface produced by solution, or so it appeared. In so far as 

my notes describe the occurrence, however, the irregular upper surface of the limestone might be erosional.

I have not anywhere obtained a good measurement of the thickness of the chert member, but a fairly satisfactory estimate places it 

at 200 to 250 feet.

Litliology. The hthologic character of the chert member may be 

described from the different outcrops where it has been observed. 

About a mile west of White River Junction it forms a high bluff 

along the north bank of White River, and is cut into here and there 

to make room for the track of the White River division of the St. 

Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. The bluffs rise about 

80 feet and consist of a solid outcrop of limestone and chert. The 

limestone is fine grained and light gray and is interspersed with 

heavy layers of cherty beds. The general effect is thin bedded in 

weathered exposures and massive in the cuts. Similarly, the cherty 

character is brought out by weathering, the beds appearing more 

like a normal limestone where blasted. Toward the top the strata 

become less massive and also more earthy, weathering full of small 

vermicular cavities. Fragments of similar vermicular cherts and 

limestones occur for 50 feet higher up on the hillside.

The 130 feet of strata thus exposed or indicated comprises neither 

the top nor the bottom of the chert member. To the west occurs 

a limestone which is presumably the limestone member, and about 

575 feet to the east another outcrop presents the higher beds of 

the series, consisting of 20 feet of finely crystalline, light to dark 

gray limestone, apparently nearly pure, overlain by thin, black, 

sandy shale, black calcareous sandstone resembling chert, black 

calcareous shale in thin sheets, and black limestone. I am unable 

to say definitely whether this outcrop represents the poorly exposed 

upper portion of the one farther west or a slightly higher horizon. 

In the field I was inclined to the latter opinion. Still farther east 

and apparently somewhat higher stratigraphically there are exposed 

in still another cut 10 feet of fine, fissile, greenish and black shale, 

2 feet of sandy black calcareous shale, and 2 feet of thin black shale. 

Half a mile farther east, at White River Junction, is the main mass 

of the Moorefield shale, topped by the Batesville sandstone. The last 

cut, I judge, represents the base of the Moorefield shale; the one to 

the west represents the "Spring Creek limestone"; and the extensive one first described represents the chert member.

The railroad that runs along Spring Creek up to Cushman makes a 

series of cuts on the east bank of the stream, one of them being 

the typical exposure of the "Spring Creek limestone." As the beds
8 FAUNA OF BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

have a southward inclination, the chert member is well shown along the 

railroad north of the Spring Creek outcrops. My own observations 

cover somewhat less than one-fourth of a mile above the contact, 

so I use Weller's notes, which describe 68 feet of strata as follows:

Section of the chert member along Spring Creek.

Ft. in.

4. Hard gray limestone with chert............................... 8 0

3. Chert like No. 1, but more uniform in color and nearly white.. 25 0 

2. Black chert with much iron.................................. 3

1. Very hard mottled gray and black chert with numerous horizontal seams from 2 to 6 feet apart.......................:.. 35 0

A series of hand specimens accompanies this section, the numbers 

given to the specimens corresponding to the numbers of the beds. 

Specimen 1 shows a fine, dense, flinty-looking rock of mottled light 

and' dark gray color. Specimen 2 is very similar but darker in 

general tone. Specimen 3 is fine, dense, and flinty looking and of 

a uniform light gray. It may be compared with No. 1 but lacks 

the darker mottling, the entire tint being that of the lighter portion 

of that specimen. Specimen 4 is a thinly and unevenly bedded rock 

with finely sparkling fracture surface. It is an impure limestone 

with small irregular light-gray segregations of chert. The limestone 

is somewhat darker, about the same shade as specimen 3. Specimen 4 is obviously calcareous, and the three other lots, in spite 

of their flinty look, effervesce briskly when dipped in hydrochloric 

acid, showing that they contain a considerable percentage of lime.

H. S. Williams also collected a series of hand specimens at this 

locality. The lowest collection, which is designated on the label 

"Cushman chert," consists of fine, dense, flinty-looking rock like 

Weller's Nos. 1 and 3, and like them effervescing in acid. The mottled 

specimen has less dark gray than Weller's No. 1. There is also 

a small piece consisting in part of fine whitish calcareous rock and 

in part of dark granular limestone with a sharp and irregular line 

of demarcation. The next bed in Williams's collection is limestone 

(No. 2), a fine, rather light gray, somewhat impure rock, either 

uniform in tint or with fine bands of stratification. A part of the 

material also shows light to rather dark gray limestone with chert 

layers of somewhat lighter color but weathering yellowish or reddish 

and finely porous. This is comparable to Weller's No. 4. Williams's No. 3 (top of cherty layers) consists of weathered cherts, 

yellowish gray to brown in color, evidently derived from a very 

impure limestone. One type is honeycombed by irregular tortuous 

.pores. The other is more massive but still shows irregular excavations, and it is also fossiliferous, containing molds of zaphrentoid 

corals. The rock mass of these specimens is finely porous, so that 

it can be cut by a chisel without difficulty. The vermicular type
INTRODUCTION. - 9

I suspect to be a weathered form of the mottled flinty rock such as 

is shown by Weller's No. 1.

Weller also obtained two specimens from the chert member in a 

ravine close to his other collection. One is a fine, dense, flinty rock 

very similar to some of the specimens already described (Weller's 

Nos. 1 and 3, and Williams^s No. 1), but of a slightly brownish tint 

and a rather more siliceous look. In fact, it seems to be a true flint 

and shows no effervescence in acid. The other exhibits in a single 

specimen another rock in its weathered and unweathered phases. 

A sharp and rather even line divides the two. The unaltered material 

is a fine, dense, nearly black impure limestone, so hard that it can 

be scratched only slightly with a knife. The weathered rock is 

light gray or slightly brownish and is finely porous, with a sandy 

fracture which contrasts with the smooth surface of the unaltered 

portion. It is also relatively soft and can be cut with a knife. The 

specimen shows weathering to the depth of about 1£ inches or 32 

millimeters.

Some distance above the locality at which these specimens were 

obtained, about a mile from Ruddells Mill, where the contact of the 

Moorefield shale with the chert member occurs, there is a high bluff 

on the east bank of Spring Creek, the same side as the outcrops 

of which I have been speaking. Here I measured 170 feet of rock in 

place, consisting mostly of chert but including some siliceous limestone that weathers light gray or reddish and yellowish. Toward the 

top the cherts are porous, so that they suggest certain varieties of 

tufa. Above the outcrop the hillside is covered with blocks of chert 

for 70 feet to the top, which is also strewn with chert fragments, some 

of them fossiliferous. Here a collection of fossils was made. (See 

lot 388, p. 10.) On descending the same bluff at a point rather less 

than one-half mile farther south I came upon 30 feet of black calcareous shale and shaly limestone underlain by 10 feet of cherty beds, 

which were partly massive, light brownish, finely porous, and siliceous 

(an impure weathered limestone probably), and partly very porous 

and vermicular. These black shaly beds must come about midway 

hi the mass of the cherts, which in the section farther north apparently continue above them, either as outcrops or as fragments, for 

about 120 feet. Their apparent absence might be ascribed either to 

a wedging out of the beds themselves or to imperfect exposure, there 

being gaps in the other outcrop in which these beds may belong. 

Apparently, then, the chert member must be described as containing 

occasional lenses of black shale and limestone.

The foregoing data are all that I have of importance pertaining to 

the lithologic character of the cherty rocks in question in the vicinity 

of Batesville.
10 FAUNA OP BOOtfE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

Faunal character of the rocks. The faunal character of these rocks 

next demand consideration. As a rule they are scantily fossiliferous. 

I have searched outcrops in vain for fossils but have found loose fragments fairly crowded with them. From this it would appear that they 

are apt to occur in pockets. As a rule the fossils are unsatisfactory. 

They are preserved mostly as cavities formed by the leaching out of 

the shells themselves and are consequently represented by internal 

and external molds. The surfaces of the molds are liable to be 

obscured by siliceous incrustations. Specimens in the dense, hard 

cherts are of course difficult or impossible to uncover so as to determine their outline and those in more porous and softer matrices have 

lost their original shape by compression. Some of the shells appear 

to have been broken prior to fossilization. Almost all of my collections were obtained from loose material, but the facts of their occurrence were such that their origin in the chert member is beyond reasonable doubt.

In the bed of Spring Creek, at the foot of the bluff about a mile 

above Ruddells Mill, I found a loose bowlder full of fossils (preserved 

as cavities), among which the following species are represented (lot 

387) :

Productella hirsutiformis. 

Productus pileiformis. 

Liorhynchus carboniferum. 

Spirifer martiniiformis. 

Reticularia setigera.

Martinia? pilosa.

Conocardium meekanum var. magnum?

Conocardium sp. a.

Bembexia nodimarginata.

Another loose piece found near by yielded the following species 

(Iot387a):

Reticularia setigera?

Martinia? pilosa.

Conocardium meekanum var. magnum?

Bembexia nodimarginata.

Pleurotomaria sp.

Triplophyllum? ep.

Lingulidiscina newberryi var. moorefieldana.

Camarotcecbia purduei var. agrestis? 

Spirifer martiniiformis. 

Spirifer arkansanus.

No fossils were seen in place in climbing the bluff above, but from 

loose pieces of chert on top of the hill and probably about in place a 

collection was made. Unlike the foregoing, these fossils occur scantily 

and a large number of fragments were examined before the collection 

was obtained (lot 388):

Triplophyllum sp. a.

Productella hirsutiformis.

Productella hirsutiformis var. batesvillensis?

Rhipidomella arkansana. 

Liorhynchus carboniferum?

Liorhynchus carboniferum var. polypleurum?

Spirifer martiniiformis. 

Reticularia setigera. 

Conocardium sp. b.
INTRODUCTION. 11

The lower part of the black calcareous shale observed in descending the bluff one-half mile southeast of the last-named locality is, 

as already mentioned, slightly fossiliferous. Only two species were 

obtained (lot 390):

Rhipidomella arkansana. | Bembexiasp.

In addition there were some small, roundish fossils, very badly 

crushed, suggesting Martinias.

From some loose cherts near by, 150 feet above the foregoing collection and 120 feet above the top of the black shale outcrop, I 

collected (lot 389):

Triplophyllum sp. a. 

Lingula albapinensis. 

Lingulidiscina newberryi var. moorefieldana.

Productella hirsutiforrnis. 

Productus pileiformis. 

Liorhynchus carboniferurn. 

Spirifer martiniiformis. 

Reticularia setigera.

Martinia? pilosa.

 Conocardium meekanum var. magnum. 

Parallelodon multiliratus. 

Pleurotomaria aff. P. carbonaria. 

Euomphalus planidorsatus. 

Sphserodoma? sp. 

Primitia moorefieldana? 

Bairdia aff. B. cestriensis.

This horizon I take to be about the same as that of lot 388 and 

close to the top of the chert member.

From the outcrop at Ruddells Mill a single fossil was obtained 

which has been identified as Bembexia sp. (station 1248W).

The last collection which I have included here was made by J. C. 

Branner in the NW. i NE. i sec. 21, T. 13 N., R. 7 W. The locality 

appears to be 6 or 7 miles southwest of Batesville and the fauna 

and lithology are those of the chert member. The following species 

were obtained at this locality (1237B):

Batostomella sp.

Stenopora sp.

Khombopora? sp.

Derbya? sp.

Productella hirsutiformis.

Productus inflatus var. coloradoensis?

Productus pileiformis.

Productus sp. a.

Productus sp. b.

The following table shows the relation of these collections to each 

other and to the fauna of the Moorefield shale:

Liorhynchus carboniferum. 

Liorhynchus carboniferum var. polypleurum?

Moorefieldella eurekensis. 

Spirifer arkansanus. 

Reticularia setigera. 

Martinia? pilosa. 

Bembexia nodimarginata?
12 FAUNA OF BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

Table showing the species of the so-called Boone chert and their relation to the fauna of the 

Moorefieldshale (chiefly the "Spring Creek limestone" ).a

Euomphalus planidorsatus ....................

Sphserodoma? sp ...............................

Primitia mooreneldana? .......................

387

y

V

X

X

X

387a.

X

X

X

X 

X

X

X

y

388

X

X

X

X

389

X

X

X

X

X

X

y

y

X

X

v

390 1237B.

X 

X 

X

X 

X

X 

X 

X 

X

X 

X

X

X 

X 

X

?

1248W.

X

Moorefield 

shale.

X 

X

X 

X

X 

X

X 

X 

X 

X 

X

X 

X

?

i See pp. 10-11 for a description of the localities designated by numbers in this table.

It will be seen at pnce that a large part of the fauna, including all 

the abundant species, occurs also in the Moorefield shale, and so close 

is the agreement that I am justified in saying that this is substantially 

the Moorefield fauna and no other. Though not found in place, the 

different collections agree so well with one another and with Moorefield collections which were found in place, that it seems safe to speak 

of them as coming from one formation and constituting one fauna. 

Furthermore, though not found in place, it is also safe to conclude 

that these collections had their source in the chert member whose 

stratigraphic position is below the Moorefield shale and above the 

limestone member. Such cherts are not known in the Moorefield 

shale itself and the circumstances which surround the occurrence of 

these collections would almost preclude their having come from a bed 

higher than the chert member. On the other hand, the same reasons 

almost preclude their having come from the limestone member.

Classification of the "Spring Creek limestone." As intimated in my 

report on the fauna of the Moorefield shale, 1 the thin limy beds which 

occur at the base of the formation and which have been called the 

"Spring Creek limestone" contain a fauna considerably different in

1 Girty, G. H., Fauna of the Moorefield shale of Arkansas: TJ. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439,1911.
INTRODUCTION. 13

facies from that of the purer shales which constitute the bulk of the 

formation. Here are segregated most of the brachiopods, while the 

more scantily fossiliferous shales above contain most of the cephalopods and the more peculiar types of pelecypods. It is the facies of 

the "Spring Creek limestone" particularly which is presented in 

the so-called Boone chert, and this fact raises the question whether 

the "Spring Creek limestone" would not more properly be classified 

with the Boone chert than with the Moorefield shale, as heretofore. 

I am inclined to think that it should be so classified, for Jithologically 

the "Spring Creek limestone" constitutes merely a thin transitional 

zone from the earthy limestone of the one to the shale of the other. 

It unites the massive calcareous character of the Boone with the black 

color of the Moorefield, although the chert member is not without 

some nearly black beds also.

Stratigraphically such a change in definition would make little 

practical difference, but paleontologically the difference would be 

considerable, for it would remove from the Moorefield the larger part 

of the fauna heretofore ascribed to it, and its revised fauna would be 

limited largely to the Caneyellas among the pelecypods and to the 

cephalopods. It is desirable to be more explicit upon this point, 

but some difficulty attends the reference to their proper horizon of the 

fossils collected. This arises from the fact that some of the collections 

were not obtained in place and that others lie close to the critical line. 

In determining collections of the latter sort I propose to employ paleontologic criteria; if the collections came within a foot or two of the 

dividing plane between the two formations, which itself is not a 

definite boundary, I shall include them with the "Spring Creek limestone" if their faunas conspicuously resemble the "Spring Creek" 

fauna as determined by species found in place. I propose to proceed 

in the same way also with the collections not found in place (whose 

occurrence, however, gives some suggestion as to their original stratigraphic position), only in this case the paleontologic evidence must 

necessarily have additional weight.

The only collection mentioned in my report on the fauna of the 

Moorefield shale * that obviously came from the shaly beds of the 

formation in the Spring Creek region is the one which bears the 

locality number 2052. This collection contained only Caneyella 

percostata and Gastrioceras caneyanwn, but I am inclined to think 

that the Goniatites cited by Smith as from the Moorefield shale 

at Batesville (Goniatites newsomi, G. striatus [ = G. choctawensis], and 

G. subcircularis) were from this horizon.

At Moorefield the fauna listed in my report under the locality 

number 2051A is probably to be considered as representing the

' Op. cit., pp. 16-18.
14 FAUNA OF BOONE CHEBT NEAE BATESVILLE, ARK.

"Spring Creek limestone." Station 2051B clearly represents a 

higher horizon, one which must be considered as being in the true 

Moorefield (exclusive of the "Spring Creek limestone"). Here I 

obtained Liorhynclius carboniferum, Oaneyella vaughani, and Deltopecten batesvillensis. Station 2051 must also be considered as well 

up in the Moorefield, and here I found Lingulidiscina newberryi var. 

caneyana, Strophostylus aff. S. carleyanus?, Orthoceras sp. b, Bactritesf 

carbonarius, and Goniatites choctawensis.

In the same fauna must be included Pleurotomaria ? sp., Orthoceras 

sp. a, Endolobus ornatus, and Goniatites choctawensis, collected by 

Mr. Siebenthal, and Bactritesf carbonarius, Glyphioceras calyx ( = Gastrioceras richardsonianum), and Goniatites crenistria, cited by J. P. 

Smith.1 Lastly the fossils from Howards Wells (locality 1245A) 

must be referred to the Moorefield above the "Spring Creek limestone"; they are Goniatites choctawensis, Gastrioceras caneyanum, 

Eumorphoceras bisulcatum, and AdelpTioceras meslerianumf

In the Batesville quadrangle, then, the fauna of the Moorefield 

shale, after eliminating the collections which appear to belong to 

the "Spring Creek limestone," consists of 19 species as follows:

Lingulidiscina newberryi var. caneyana. 

Liorhynchus carboniferum. 

Caneyella vaughani. 

Caneyella percostata. 

Deltopecten batesvillensis.

Pleurotomaria? sp. 

Strophostylus aff. S. carleyanus. 

Orthoceras sp. a. 

Orthoceras sp. 6. 

Endolobus ornatus.

Bactrites? carbonarius. 

Goniatites choctawensis. 

Goniatites crenistria. 

Goniatites subcircularis. 

Goniatites newsomi. 

Gastrioceras richardsonianum? 

Gastrioceras caneyanum. 

Eumorphoceras bisulcatum. 

Adelphoceras meslerianum?

Of these only four (Lingulidiscina newberryi var. caneyana, > 

Liorhynchus carboniferum, Deltopecten batesvillensis, and Strophostylus , 

aff. S. carleyanus) are known in the "Spring Creek limestone"; or, of 

the 71 species of the "Spring Creek" fauna but 4 are known in the * 

shales above. These same facts might be stated in another way to 

bring out more clearly the relationship between these three faunas. 

Of the 71 species at present constituting the fauna of the "Spring * 

Creek limestone," 18 occur among the 33 species known from the ^ 

underlying chert member and only 4 occur among the 19 species 

known from the Moorefield shale. *

That these figures do not give an entirely truthful representation of 

the f aunal conditions of this epoch is indicated by the reappearance 

at higher horizons than the Moorefield of some species not yet known * 

from the Moorefield itself. Furthermore, when we come to consider ^ 

the faunas from Marshall, described in my Moorefield shale report, 

 ~ *

1 Op. cit., p. 19,
INTRODUCTION. 15

the truth of this becomes perplexingly apparent, for at Marshall 

there seems to be no sedimentary phase which can be compared 

with the "Spring Creek limestone/' and on the other hand there is 

no faunal development which can be compared with that of the 

Moorefield shale proper. The faunas from Marshall are much less 

varied than those from the Batesville quadrangle. They contain 

some species peculiar to Marshall, but generally the facies is more 

like that of the "Spring Creek limestone" than that of the shaly 

beds above. From the fossils themselves one might infer that the 

beds at Marshall represent only the "Spring Creek" portion of the 

Moorefield, or the "Spring Creek" plus the chert member of the 

Boone, for it is not known at present, at least so far as I am aware, 

whether there is at Marshall anything to compare lithologically and 

faunally with the chert member of the Batesville quadrangle.

Relations of the chert member to the typical Boone. The chert beds 

in the vicinity of Batesville have usually, perhaps always, been 

regarded as part of the Boone limestone. Penrose 1 so called them 

in 1891 and Hopkins 2 in 1893. Adams and Ulrich 3 used the same 

name in 1904 and I 4 myself in 1911. The peculiar fauna, which they 

contain, however, brings into question both the relation of the chert 

member to the Boone limestone and the classification of the Boone 

itself.

The term "Boone" as a geologic name was introduced in the literature by Penrose 5 and by Simonds 8 in two reports published in the 

same year, 1891. Penrose mentions particularly the outcrops near 

Batesville, but says that the formation received its name from its 

development in Boone County, Ark. The beds have, however, been 

so carefully studied in southwestern Missouri that the Joplin region 

vicariously has almost become the standard section of the Boone.

Boone County has very nearly the same boundaries as the 

Harrison quadrangle, and from that quadrangle and the one just 

west of it, the Eureka Springs quadrangle, there has recently come 

under my observation a series of nearly 40 collections, obtained from 

the base to the top of the Boone. These collections indicate that 

the formation ranges in age from Kinderhook (Fern Glen) to Keokuk. 

I find nothing in the Boone indicating an age younger than the Keokuk. The St. Joe Limestone member, which forms the base of the 

Boone, I would correlate as above stated with the Fern Glen limestone, a correlation which was originally made by Weller and 

which my own observations confirm. Of the rest of the Boone, the 

lower moiety seems to represent Burlington and the upper Keokuk

» Penrose, R. A. F., jr., Arkansas Geol. Survey Ann. Rept., 1890, vol. 1, pp. 115, 213,1891. 

2Hopkins, T. C., Arkansas Geol. Survey Ann. Rept., 1890, vol. 4, p. 103,1893. 

«Adams, G. I., and Ulrich, E. 0., U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 24, pp. 26 and 102,1904. 

 i Girty, G. H., op. cit., pp. 5,11, et seq., 1911.

5 Op. cit.

6 Siraonds, F. W., Arkansas Geol. Survey Ann. Rept., 1888, vol. 4, pp. 27-37,1891,
16 FAUNA OF BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

time. There do not appear to be any sharp faunal breaks, that 

between the St. Joe and the rest of the Boone being perhaps the most 

recognizable. As might be expected, these faunas are not typical 

Burlington nor typical Keokuk faunas, since they lack some of the 

features found in the typical ones and, on the other hand, present 

features not possessed by them, but I see no reason for doubting the 

general equivalence.

In passing it may be of interest to record that a notable feature of 

the faunal sequence of the Joplin district is not found in the Boone 

at its typical outcrops. I mean the Productus magnus fauna, which 

occupies the upper part of the Boone limestone at Joplin. This 

fact raises the question whether there may not be present in the 

Joplin region in beds classified as Boone strata which are younger 

than the typical Boone and which should be assigned to a geologic 

period later than the Keokuk. For a variety of reasons I have reached 

the conclusion that such is not the case. It is, of course, true that 

one can never be sure of the equivalence of formations foot for foot, 

even in areas not very widely separated. But that any considerable 

part of the Boone near Joplin is younger than the typical Boone and 

of a different geologic age I do not believe. The abundant Pro- 

.ductus magnus fauna of the Joplin region consists almost entirely of 

recognized Keokuk species, even the crinoids and fish teeth being 

Keokuk types. There are, it is true, associated with these a very 

few species which have not elsewhere been found below the Warsaw, 

but I see no justification on this account for calling the upper part 

of the Boone at Joplin Warsaw, except with the following proviso. 

Although there is little evidence to support it, I would be willing to 

admit another possible interpretation of the conditions found in the 

Joplin region. The Warsaw fauna, which at Warsaw itself has 

not a little in common with the Keokuk fauna, may in its extension. 

to the southward lose most of its distinctive features and become one 

with the Keokuk fauna in its facies as hi the lithology of the rocks 

which contain it, but in that event I could hardly admit the validity 

of the Warsaw as a unit in the time scale. The Warsaw should 

then be classed as upper Keokuk. In point of the equivalence of 

the Boone in the Joplin and Harrison quadrangles I may note that 

the Productus magnus fauna, or at least that Productus magnus 

itself, has been found as near to the Harrison quadrangle as St. Joe, 

Ark., and that stratigraphic tracing has as yet shown no quantitative discordance in the rocks contained in the Boone at the localities 

in question. Indeed, at a number of points in and probably over 

much of the Harrison-Eureka Springs area there is an oolitic band 

near the top of the Boone which occupies a position similar to the 

Short Creek oolite of the Joplin region and is believed to be that 

formation.
INTKODUCTION. 17

But to return to the fauna of the so-called Boone cherts at Batesville and its bearing on the Boone problem. This fauna, especially 

when supplemented by forms from the "Spring Creek" limestone, 

not only differs entirely from anything in the typical Boone (or in 

the Boone at Joplin), probably not more than a species or two existing in common, but it also contains intrinsic evidence, if our present 

knowledge of the range of species and genera is correct, of being 

distinctly younger than the Keokuk. If we consider these facts alone, 

it would appear that the chert member 1 at Batesville ought not to be 

classified with the Boone limestone, but should be regarded as a separate and distinct formation, intermediate between the Boone limestone and the Moorefield shale. Indeed, we have as yet no real 

evidence as to the age and correlation of the limestone below the 

chert member itself, although it is assumed to represent the Boone 

limestone.

Evidence from other areas. The fauna under consideration is so unlike any of the typical Mississippian faunas that it is difficult to find 

even one or two species in the one by whose range in the other its 

geologic age can be tested. Of such, DiapJiragmus elegans is in my 

view by far the most important, for in the typical faunas of the 

Mississippian I have never found it below the Chester. In the 

Arkansas area, where conditions were obviously much different, it 

is quite possible that this type may have appeared earlier. A few 

other species indicate post-Keokuk age, 2 but aside from these few 

forms the peculiar Spring Creek fauna need not necessarily be placed 

above the Keokuk in the time scale. Its almost complete unlikeness 

to the typical Keokuk fauna need be no bar, for the Spring Creek 

fauna must correspond to some member of the typical Mississippian 

sequence, if all the successive facies are known to us, and yet it is 

equally different from any of them. Thus, so far as the fauna is conerned, the chert member may be only a remarkable variant of the 

Boone limestone of the Harrison and Joplin areas. There is still 

further evidence that this may be the case.

To present this evidence it will be necessary to consider briefly two. 

geologic sections in western Tennessee, one at Bidgetop, near Nashville, and the other in the Waynesboro quadrangle, southwest of Nashville. The Carboniferous sections in these two areas are in many 

respects very similar. The rocks between the Chattanooga black

' This conclusion assumes that the chert member is a unit, although nearly all the paleontologic evidence, upon which the conclusion chiefly rests, was obtained near the top of the series. The assumption 

is supported by tho uniform character of the lithology and by the very meager fauna obtained from the black 

shaly beds near the middle of the series, which, so far as it is goes, has a "Spring Creek" and not a Boone 

facies.

8 Girty, G. H., op. cit., p. 23,1911.

49775° Bull. 595 15 2
18 FAUNA OF BOONE CHEET NEAR BATESVILLE, ABK.

shale* and the St. Louis limestone constitute the Tullahoma formation as formerly recognized in those areas. In general the Tullahoma 

is a highly siliceous formation consisting of flinty and cherty limestone,2 often in heavy layers. In the Ridgetop section, however, it is 

composed of green and dark-gray shales in the lower half and of 

heavier and more calcareous beds in the upper half, and R. S. Bassler 

has there broken it up into two formations, calling the lower one the 

Ridgetop shale and correlating the upper one with the Fort Payne 

chert. H. D. Miser has followed the same plan in mapping the rocks 

of the Waynesboro quadrangle. Bassler gives the geologic age of 

the Fort Payne as Keokuk and that of the Ridgetop as Kinderhook, 

the latter chiefly on the strength of WinchelTs correlation made 50 

years ago.

At Whites Creek Spring, also near Nashville, Bassler found the 

beds above the Chattanooga to consist (1) of the Ridgetop shale, 

similar to the typical Ridgetop in fauna and lithology, but much 

thinner; (2) above this some coarsely crystalline crinoidal limestones; 

and (3) the Fort Payne chert. He found in the limestone below the 

Fort Payne a fauna which differed from the typical Ridgetop fauna 

and proved to be like that of the New Providence formation of 

Indiana and Kentucky, and he distinguishes this as a separate formation, calling it by the imported name, New Providence. In harmonizing this with the section at Ridgetop, it was of course necessary 

to provide an unconformity between the Ridgetop shale and the Fort 

Payne chert in which the New Providence formation might be intercalated. The New Providence formation, it will be remembered, has 

been correlated by Weller with the Fern Glen formation, and to this 

correlation Bassler assents.

As has already been stated, Miser 3 recognized the Ridgetop shale, 

with the Maury Green shale at its base and the Fort Payne chert 

above, included between the Chattanooga shale and the St. Louis 

chert, in the Waynesboro quadrangle, just as at Ridgetop. In the 

southeastern part of his area, however, he found the Ridgetop shale 

replaced in part by beds of crinoidal limestone. These apparently 

have much the same character as Bassler's New Providence formation 

at Whites Creek Spring, but they are not confined to the upper part 

of the interval, being in fact very variable both in amount and in 

position, and Miser interprets them, not as being a distinct formation 

from the Ridgetop (as Bassler interpreted the apparently similar 

occurrence at Whites Creek Spring), but rather as being contemporaneous with it, the constituents being crinoidal material in the one

i The Maury Green shale, 1 to 2 feet thick, was formerly included in and is now excluded from the Chattanooga, but that is of minor importance.

8 Saflord, J. M.,and Killebrew, J. B., The elements of the geology of Tennessee, Nashville [1900], p. 144.

3 1 take this opportunity to state that all of my information about the Waynesboro quadrangle and part 

of that about the Ridgetop section I owe to my colleague Mr. H. D. Miser.
INTRODUCTION. 19

area and a dark clastic in the other. I am rather inclined to believe 

that Bassler's New Providence formation would better be so interpreted.

The fauna of the Ridgetop shale, which is copious, is not a Kinderhook fauna at all, as Bassler has stated following Winchell; at least 

it is widely unlike either the Kinderhook or any other fauna of the 

typical Mississippian series. It is also widely unlike any of the Waverly faunas of which I have cognizance, and I believe that all of them 

are known to me. In fact, it strongly and obviously resembles the 

fauna of the Moorefield shale. . I am speaking now of the Ridgetop

1 shale at Ridgetop, where the fossils in it are abundant. The Fort 

Payne chert of the same section is scantily fossiliferous, but the few 

species obtained from it are common to the Ridgetop below.

The same is true of the Waynesboro quadrangle. The Ridgetop 

shale is here not very fossiliferous, but so far as its fauna is known it 

agrees with the typical Ridgetop fauna. A thin stratum near the 

base of the Fort Payne in this area proved to be rich in fossils, and 

the fauna from this, as well as from such higher horizons as contained

- them, was closely like the more restricted fauna of the underlying 

Ridgetop. In other words, in both areas the fauna of the lower beds 

seemed to extend into the upper without important change, and, 

whether considered severally or combined, the faunas of the two 

areas appeared to be in essential agreement. 

To this agreement, however, two marked exceptions must be noted.

^ The fauna obtained from the New Providence formation at Whites

y Creek Spring, as listed by Bassler, is very different from the Ridgetop

fauna, and the fossiliferous crinoidal limestone already mentioned as

occurring in the southeastern part of the Waynesboro quadrangle

4 likewise contains a fauna that is almost totally different from the 

fauna of the Ridgetop. In many respects the Waynesboro fauna 

presents a typical Burlington facies, but after canvassing the ques-

^ tion rather widely I am provisionally correlating it with the Fern 

Glen (which I suspect is really of lower Burlington instead of Kinderhook age). Furthermore, this fauna has little in common with

M, that listed by Bassler from the New Providence formation, though

v it appears to belong to the same period in the time scale as that to 

which Bassler refers the New Providence, namely, the Fern Glen.

« If we accept this evidence at its face value and place the crinoidal 

limestones 1 of southeast Waynesboro at the same horizon as Bassler's 

New Providence formation, complications would ensue which are

V obvious and need0 not be discussed here; and the composite section 

resulting would be contrary to observed facts of stratigraphy. Indeed, 

almost any correlation of these sections which makes the limestones

'' ' As already stated, these calcareous beds vary much in different sections both as to amount and position; 

the collections of fossils, however, were obtained from the middle of the interval or below.
20 FAUNA OF BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

of the Whites Creek Spring and Waynesboro sections either younger 

or older than the Bidgetop shale of the Ridgetop section raises difficulties which are hard to adjust. The most simple and rational , 

explanation of these phenomena may be found, I believe, in the supposition that the strata included between the Maury Green shale 

and the Fort Payne chert are essentially equivalent in all three sections, and that several faunal facies, whose character was determined 

by different conditions of environment, were coexisting in areas not 

far removed from one another. Thus, I am supposing that dark 

muddy sediments were collecting in the Ridgetop region and in part 

of the Waynesboro quadrangle during the whole of Ridgetop shale 

time, affording a habitat favorable to a fauna of the Moorefield type; 

that throughout the same period this environment was intermittently ' 

replaced, where now is the southeastern portion of the Waynesboro 

quadrangle, by conditions of limestone deposition favoring the growth 

of crinoids and other forms which made up a quite different type of 

fauna; and lastly that the faunas and sediments which persisted * 

fairly uniformly in the Ridgetop region and extended now and again 

into southeastern Waynesboro extended also into the Whites Creek 

Spring region, but only during the earlier half of Ridgetop shale 

time, being later succeeded by crinoid colonies among which lived a 

fauna conspicuously different from that of the Ridgetop sha-le but 

somewhat, though not by any means completely in accord with the 

faunas of the calcareous deposits of the Waynesboro quadrangle. i 

This hypothesis for such only it is, of course would make the New 

Providence formation of the Whites Creek Spring section not younger y 

than the typical Ridgetop shale, but equivalent to its upper part, just 

as the similar beds in the Waynesboro quadrangle are supposed to be

equivalent to it, and it would do away with the unconformity in the . * 

middle of the Tullahoma between the Fort Payne chert and Ridgetop , 

shale, or at least give to it a different significance. I may say here 

that the irregularity mentioned by Bassler in the Ridgetop section *' 

has been seen by other observers and has not by them been considered 

of special significance. This hypothesis also would make the New 

Providence fauna of Whites Creek Spring and the crinoidal limestone ¥ 

fauna of southeast Waynesboro, both of which appear to correlate / 

with the Fern Glen formation, represent different parts of the same 

geologic period and would not of necessity ascribe any chronologic * 

significance to their different facies.

If we may tentatively explain in this way the phenomena in western 

Tennessee, there is no reason why we should not. extend the same 

hypothesis to northern Arkansas, other things being equal.

If the crinoidal limestones of southeastern Waynesboro are in fact 

of Fern Glen age, and if, on the other hand, they are merely a different lithologic and faunal phase of the lower part of the Ridgetop
INTRODUCTION. 

shale, there must have flourished in Tennessee a fauna which was at 

the same time contemporaneous with the lower Boone (St. Joe) and 

which yet possessed a facies conspicuously resembling that of the 

Moorefield shale. Indeed, this fauna must have survived until a still 

later period, changing with changed conditions, but retaining more 

or less of its original character; for we find some of the peculiar 

Moorefield types, such as Liorhynchus carboniferum, near the top of 

the Fayetteville shale. If such a fauna existed and endured so long, 

there can be no doubt that it spread wherever and whenever the conditions were favorable to it. Such may have been the Batesville 

region during the later part of Boone time.

These considerations only remove or weaken certain a priori objections against considering it even possible that the chert member with 

its peculiar fauna was contemporaneous with any part of the Boone. 

They do not adduce evidence, and in fact little evidence can be 

adduced, for concluding that it actually was contemporaneous. It 

is not probable that this fauna persisted so long without undergoing 

important changes through the extinction of old species and the 

introduction of new ones. If such modifications were known and 

recorded one might determine what stage in the progress of this fauna 

the chert member represented. As it is, the differences between the 

fauna of the chert member at Batesville and the similar faunas of the 

Fort Payne chert and Ridgetop shale of Tennessee might be interpreted as regional or as chronologic with almost equal propriety. Among 

the differences most worthy of note are the presence of MooreJieldeTla eurekensis in the fauna at Batesville and the abundance of 

Ohonetes planumbonus var. choctawensis in the Tennessee faunas, 

though there are of course many other less important differences.

The faunas, then, do not furnish conclusive evidence as to whether 

these chert beds on Spring Creek are younger than the typical 

Boone or are equivalent to part of it. The geology of the area between Batesville and the Harrison quadrangle is pretty well known, 

yet to none of the geologists who have traversed this region has it 

suggested itself that the cherts below the Spring Creek limestone 

were anything else than the upper part of the Boone limestone. 

These facts seem to me presumptive evidence that the cherts really 

belong to the Boone. Miser informs me that in the Harrison-Eureka 

Springs region three members can usually be recognized in the Boone 

above the basal St. Joe limestone member, an upper and a lower 

chert divided by a limestone. The upper chert and underlying limestone of the typical Boone are thus suggestive of the chert member 

and the limestone member near Batesville. However, the Boone 

varies so much from point to point that such speculations without 

close stratigraphic work have little value.
22 FAUNA OF BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

The character of the fauna of the chert beds on Spring Creek has 

suggested two conclusions: That the " Spring Creeklimestolie " should 

be classified with the underlying cherts rather than with the overlying Moorefield shale; and that the formation thus constituted was 

younger than the Boone instead of equivalent to the upper part of 

it. The bearing of the phenomena observed in Tennessee on only 

one of these propositions has been considered. They also have a 

bearing upon the question whether the "Spring Creek limestone" 

should be classified with the chert member or with the Moorefield 

shale. If the Moorefield fauna actually did persist as long as the 

facts discussed above seem to suggest, it must nevertheless have 

undergone changes with the passage of time, but the changes were 

probably not fundamental, the groundrnass of the fauna remaining 

the same. This consideration would tend to enhance the importance 

of the introduction of new and critical species. A number of forms 

have been recorded from the Spring Creek limestone that have not 

yet been found in the underlying chert. One of these is DiapJiragmus elegans, a species already mentioned as not known in the 

typical Mississippian below the Chester. Of the identification of 

these fossils there is little doubt, but of their origin in the Spring 

Creek limestone I have never been entirely satisfied. The introduction of D. elegans, together with other changes, may obscurely 

mark a transition from one geologic period to another in a fauna so 

long-lived and persistent as this is supposed to be.

Of possible importance in this connection is the fact that Siebenthai has found in the Wyandotte quadrangle and in other parts of 

Oklahoma, between a limestone correlated with the Boone and a 

sandstone correlated with the Batesville, some 30 feet of calcareous 

strata which are separated from the Boone by an erosional unconformity and which contain a fauna allied to that found in the "Spring 

Creek limestone" and in the chert member near Batesville. This 

fauna, furthermore, shows strong Chester affinities.

The significance of the fauna of the so-called Boone chert near 

Batesville can not be properly estimated without further evidence, 

especially stratigraphic evidence as to the relations between the beds 

themselves and the typical Boone limestone. In spite of the great 

dissimilarity existing between the fauna of these chert beds and any 

of the Boone faunas, it is credible that the cherts may have been 

synchronous with part of the Boone, presumably with the upper 

part. However, in view especially of the related fauna which comes 

in above the Boone in northwestern Arkansas and northeastern Okla- y 

homa it seems rather more probable that the chert member near 

Batesville is younger than the Keokuk and not properly part of the * . Boone. Provisionally, also, I would classify the Spring Creek lime- ^
DESCRIPTION OJ? SPECIES. 23

stone with the chert member, withdrawing it from the Moorefield 

shale. Nevertheless, it may be found that the chert member is contemporaneous with part of the Boone and that only the Spring Creek 

limestone is equivalent to the limestones of the Wyandotte quadrangle which occur between the Booiie and the Batesville sandstone. 

In any event, the chert member at Batesviile differs so strongly both 

in fauna and lithology from the typical Boone of Boone County that 

it deserves to be regarded as a distinct formation, in the Batesviile 

region at least.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES.

CCELENTEBATA.

TKIPLOPHYLLUM sp. a.

Corals appear but rarely in this fauna so far as it is exhibited by 

my collections, and the only types observed belong to the Zaphrentidse. Possibly two species are present. The more common of these 

comprises small, rather rapidly expanding and strongly curved 

coralla averaging about 25 millimeters in length and 15 millimeters 

in diameter. Not only are these fossils few in number, but their 

characters are imperfectly retained. The exterior appears to be 

marked by rather numerous, strong, transverse striae and rather faint 

longitudinal striae. No spines or stolons are developed. The internal 

structures are not shown, but the calice, as exhibited by the molds of 

the interior, is moderately deep and is provided with a large fossula, 

on either side of which at 90° of arc occur other points of asymmetry, 

probably representing smaller fossulae. The primary septa number 

33 and reach nearly to the center. There are also an equal number 

of secondary septa which are short and confined to the calice.

The arrangement of the septa indicates that this form belongs with 

Simpson's genus Triplophyllum, to which also all the forms which I 

have cited under the European genus Menophyllum probably belong. 

I do not regard it as certain, however, that Triplophyllum is not 

a synonym of Menophyllum.

The specific relations of this form have not been definitely determined. At present the only species appearing under Triplophyllum 

is T. centrale, the type species, but other forms at present cited under 

the genus Zaphrentis doubtless belong here- The specimens under 

consideration are rather smaller and have fewer septa than those on 

which T. centrale was founded, and are much smaller than specimens 

subsequently referred to that species. They show similar but somewhat greater differences when compared with the form from the 

"Spring Creek limestone" which I cited under Menophyllum sp. All 

the septa in these other species appear to be primary, in which case 

the present one has rather fewer otherwise it has many more. Of
24 FAUNA OF BOONE CHEBT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

the two, the "Spring Creek limestone" species appears to.agree with 

T. centrale rather more closely than this, but more complete information may show all three to be the same. 

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations

388, 389). '

TRIPLOPHYLLUM? sp. ,

This form is represented by a single very poor specimen, which 

differs from those cited as Triplophyllum sp. a by having apparently 

fewer and more widely spaced septa without secondary septa. The 

whole number of these structures can not be determined, but in this ' 

form there are four primary septa in 5 millimeters and in the other 

about five. The reference to the genus Triplophyllum is purely 

hypothetical. -'

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 

387a).

BBYOZOA. If

BATOSTOMELLA sp.

Small ramose Bryozoa are not rare in the collections studied, but > 

they are poorly preserved. They occur as molds, or are silicified and 

united with the matrix in a solid cherty mass. There may be two 

species among them. The branches averaged about 5 millimeters 

in diameter and probably divide rather freely. The zooecia are 

round and have more or less strong constrictions. Mesopores are 

present but are not abundant. Diaphragms appear to be developed f. 

here and there toward the surface and to have the central perforation characteristic of the family. This form is too imperfectly ^ 

known for identification, but it appears to be distinct from any 

species yet found in the Moorefield shale (including the " Spring Creek 

limestone").

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station ^ 

1237B).

STENOPORA sp. ^

This is a thin explanate form represented by only a small fragment preserved as a mold, so that some of the characters are imper- >» 

f ectly known. The thickness of the zoarium is only about 1 millimeter, 

and, perhaps owing to the consequent shortness of the individual cells, 

diaphragms are scantily developed if at all. The cell walls appear * 

to be moderately thick and not strongly constricted.

The specific relations of this form can not be determined, but it is 

probably distinct from the species found in the "Spring Creek lime- V 

stone," which has a ramose mode of growth.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 

1237B).
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 25

RHOMBOPORA? sp.

This type depends chiefly on one specimen preserved as a mold 

in chert. It differs conspicuously from Batostomella. sp. in the 

slenderness of the branches, which are less than 1£ millimeters in 

diameter, and in the smaller, more regularly arranged, and more 

widely spaced zooecia. Nothing comparable with this has yet been 

found in the Moorefield shale (including the "Spring Creek limestone").

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 

1237B).

BBACHIOPODA. 

LlNGULA ALBAPINENSIS Walcott.

Plate I, figure 10.

1884. Lingula albapinensis. Walcott, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 8, p. 108, pi. 2, fig. 1.

Upper Devonian: White Pine district, Nev.

1909. Lingula albapinensis. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 377, p. 17, pi. 1, figs. 

6, 6a, 7, 8(?).

Caney shale: Atoka, Antlers, and Ardmore quadrangles, Okla. 

1911. Lingula albapinensis. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 36, pi. 1, fig. 11.

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Spring Creek, Ark.

This species is represented by a single specimen characterized by 

its small size and rather elongate, regularly ovate shape, with narrow 

and nearly symmetrically rounded ends. The length, is 6 millimeters and the width 3 millimeters.

This is closely similar to the shells from the "SpringCreek limestone" 

and Caney shale to which I have given the same identification. In 

size it is more like the Caney specimens, but in shape it is rather 

more like those from the "Spring Creek limestone." That is, it is 

more symmetrical and has the greatest width about midway instead 

of near the posterior end. The latter shape, however, is not found 

in all the Caney specimens.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 389).

LlNGULIDISCINA NEWBERRYI Var. MOOREFIELDANA Girty.

1911. Lingulidisdna newberryi var. moorefieldana. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull.

439, p. 38, pi. 2, figs. 6, 7. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle; Marshall quadrangle, Ark.

This species is inadequately represented by five imperfect specimens, three ventral and two dorsal valves, the latter not definitely 

known to be conspecific with the others. In so far as their characters 

can be made out these specimens may be referred to the species 

named above.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 

387a and 389).
26 FAUNA 01? BOONE CHEBT NEAR, BATESVILLE, ARK.

DERBYA? sp.

The specimen representing this species is a mere fragment, apparently part of a gently convex dorsal valve.' It evidently belongs to 

one of the Strophomenoid types common in the Mississippian, but 

whether to Derbya, Orthotetes, Schuchertella, or some cognate genus ^ 

is beyond determination. This type of shell seems to be lacking in 

the Moorefield fauna (including the "Spring Creek limestone").

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station

1237B).

PRODUCTELLA HIRSUTIFORMIS Walcott.

1884. Produdella hirsutiformis. Walcott, U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 8, p. 133, pi. 2,

fig. 10. i 

Upper Devonian: Eureka and White Pine districts, Nev. ' 

1909. Productella hirsutiformis. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 377, p. 24, pi. 2,

figs. 4-6.

Caney shale: Ardmore, Atoka, and Tishomingo quadrangles, Okla. \ 

1911. Productella hirsutiformis. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 50, pi. 3,

figs. 1-4. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Spring Creek; Moorefield, Ark.

This species is represented-by about 10 more or less fragmentary 

specimens. They have a smooth surface marked only by concentric 

growth lines and striae of varying distinctness, and by small spines 

some of whose bases are prolonged as slender irregular evanescent 

ridges. The specimens evidently belong to a type or types closely 

related to P. Jiirsutiformis, which is undoubtedly represented among j. 

them. I am not sure that Productus subsulcatus var. janus is not 

also present, definite determination on this point being prevented V 

by the crushed and fragmentary condition of some of the fossils.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 387, 

388, 389, and 1237B).

PRODUCTELLA HIRSUTIFORMIS var. BATESVILLENSIS Girty?

Plate I, figure 1. ° ^

1911. Productella hirsutiformis var. batesvillensis. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull.

439, p. 51, pi. 3, fig. 5. " 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Ark.

This species is represented primarily by an external mold of a 

dorsal valve which also retains part of the cardinal area of the 

ventral valve. The dorsal valve itself has a low area and a smooth 

surface. Its shape is strongly transverse, much the widest at the 

hinge line. It is moderately concave, and somewhat elevated along 

the middle and flattened at the ears.

That this is a species related to P. Jiirsutiformis seems almost certain, but it differs in the transverse shape, in the projecting ears, and 

in the inflated mesial portion. Though this specimen is a dorsal
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 27

valve and the type specimen of P. hirsutiformis var. batesvillensis is a 

ventral valve, it seems to show very much the characters which 

the complementary valve of the variety batesvillensis would have, and 

its identification as such is regarded as highly probable.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 388).

PRODUCTUS INFLATUS var. COLORADOENSIS Girty?

71890. Productus boliviensis (non d'Orbigny). Nikitin, Com. ge"ol. [Russia] Me"rn.,

vol. 5, No. 5, pp. 57, 158, pi. 1, figs. 4a, 4b, 4c. 

Gschelstufe: Near Moscow, Bussia. 

71902. Productus inflatus (non McChesney). Tschernyschew, idem, vol. 16, No. 2,

pp. 261, 612, pi. 28, figs. 1-6. 

Gschelstufe: Ural and Timan mountains, Russia.

1903. Productus inflatus (non McChesney). Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 16,

p. 359, pi. 3, figs. 1-lb, 2, 2a, 3.

Hermosa formation: San Juan region and Ouray, Colo. 

Weber limestone: Crested Butte and Leadville districts, Colo. 

Pennsylvanian: Glenwood Springs, Colo.

1904. Productus inflatus? (non McChesney). Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 21,

p. 52, pi. 11, figs. 5, 6. 

Pennsylvanian (Naco limestone): Bisbee quadrangle, Ariz.

1910. Productus inflatus var. coloradoensis. Girty, New York Acad. Sci. Annals,

vol. 20, No. 3, pt. 2, p. 215. 

Basal Fayetteville shale: Fayetteville quadrangle, Ark.

1911. Productus inflatus var. coloradoensis? Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 42,

pi. 4, figs. 3, 3a. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Spring Creek, Ark.

The fossils included here evidently represent a species which occurs 

in the "Spring Creek limestone," and which I identified from that 

formation as P. inflatus var. coloradoensisf. The specimens are fragmentary but indicate a typical semireticulate Productus of medium 

size with strongly arched ventral valve terminating laterally in small 

depressed ears and having a distinct mesial sinus, the surface being 

crossed by fine, well-developed, continuous costse and the visceral 

region by fine, regular, concentric wrinkles. This species has been 

obtained at only one locality where, however, it seems to be rather 

abundant.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle,. Ark., Spring Creek (station 

1237B).

PRODUCTUS PILEIFORMIS McChesney.

This seems to be a common species in the fauna under consideration. 

Ten or more specimens, some very fragmentary, have come to hand . 

They attain a rather large size, 40 millimeters or more in width; 

have rather fine lirae, 21 to 25 or even 40 in 10 millimeters; and have 

rather small and infrequent spines which cause hardly any appreciable irregularity in the striation.

These shells are in very close accord with those from the Moorefield 

shale which are referred to the same species. Although a separation
28 FAUNA OF BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, AKK.

of specimens is not easy, owing to imperfect preservation, I may have 

included two distinct species among specimens of P. pileiformis from 

the "Spring Creek limestone"; one form, with thin shell and high 

convexity, being true P. pileiformis, and the other, with thick shell, 

less strong convexity, and more spreading shape, representing a distinct species, one possibly related to P. giganteus.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 

387,389, and 1237B). . PRODUCTUS sp. a.

The imperfect specimen here referred to is a ventral valve resembling in a general way P. subsulcatus var. janus, but having the spine 

bases prolonged into regular, almost continuous costae. It lacks the 

regular, strong, transverse wrinkles of the semireticulati and can 

scarcely be reckoned an aberrant or fragmentary example of P. inflatus var. coloradoensisf. It is thus probably distinct from any of the 

associated Product! and appears to represent a type which is absent 

from the fauna of the Moorefield shale (including the "Spring Creek 

limestone"). At all events it has not yet been found there.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 

1237B).

PRODUCTUS sp. &.

Like species a, this type is represented by a single ventral valve preserved as an internal mold and more or less imperfect. In its intrinsic 

characters also it resembles species a, but it is considerably smaller 

and has larger and more persistent costae. It probably represents a 

related, though I believe a distinct, species. It suggests the Kinderhook Productetta concentrica and P. arcuata, and in some respects it 

appears to be intermediate between them. No species closely related 

to it has as yet been found in the Moorefield fauna (including the 

" Spring Creek limestone ").

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 

1237B).

RHIPIDOMELLA ARKANSANA Girty.

Plate I, figures 11, 12.

1911. Khipidomella arkansana. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 53, pi. 2, figs.

14-16. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Ark.

Two specimens represent this species, an internal mold of a dorsal 

valve and a bivalved specimen deeply exfoliated over most of the 

surface. The identification with the species from the "Spring Creek 

limestone" hardly admits of doubt.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 388 

and 390).
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 29

LlOEHYNCHUS CARBONIFERUM Girty. 

Plate II, figure 11.

1877. Leiorhynchus quadricostatust Meek, U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par. Kept., vol. 4, 

p. 79, pi. 3, figs. 9-9b. o 

Carboniferous: White Pine Mountains, Nev. 

1909. Liorhynchus aff. L. mesicostak. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 377, p. 26,

pi. 2, figs. 11, 12.

Caney shale: Atoka quadrangle, Okla. 

1911. Liorhynchus carboniferum (n. sp.). Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 54,

pi. 6, figs. 1-10, pi. 7, figs. 13-16.

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Spring Creek, Moorefield; Marshall 

quadrangle, Marshall, Ark.

This species appears to be abundant and comprises large shells 

with a few coarse ribs in the fold and sinus, but with the sides more or 

less completely implicated. There are also specimens in which the 

mesial portion, too, is implicated, and when preserved as external 

molds it is impossible to determine whether they are an extreme 

form of this species or are a species of Composita. As the general 

expression is rather rhynchonelloid and as no Compositas are known 

in this fauna I have included them here. Similar shells occur in the 

Moorefield fauna 1 (including the "Spring Creek limestone") and in 

that of the Caney shale (PI. II, fig. 10, p. 44).

The more common varieties of this interesting form are in close 

agreement with L. carboniferum as it occurs in the Moorefield and 

Caney shales.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 

387, 389, 1237B, and 388?).

LIORHYNCHUS CARBONIFERUM va,r. POLYPLEURUM Girty? 

Plate I, figure 5.

1909. Liorhyuchus aff. L. laura. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 372, p. 27, pi. 2,

figs. 13-15.

Caney shale: Antlers and Tishomingo quadrangles, Okla. 

1911. Liorhynchus carboniferum var. polypleurum. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull.

439, p. 59, pi. 7, figs. 7-12. . Moorefield shale: Batesville and Marshall quadrangles, Ark.

I am including here a single specimen of doubtful affinities, a more 

or less flattened ventral (?) valve preserved as an internal mold. It 

has much the appearance of a large coarsely plicated Eumetria 

(E. marcyivstf. costata), but it has a sinus (which, however, might be 

accounted for as due to distortion from crushing); its exterior shows 

striae of growth, a character rare in Eumetria; and it is without evidence of punctation, a structure which would probably be indicated 

in the fine cherts even on the external mold. The specimen is therefore probably a rhynchonelloid, and it suggests both Liorliynchus 

carboniferum var. polypleurum and Moorefieldella eurelcensis var.

1 Fauna of (he Moorefield shale of Arkansas: U. S, Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 124, pi. 0, fig. 4,1911.
30 FAUNA OF BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

cuboides. The real specific relations can not be determined from the 

material in hand. The specimen may be compared with figure 11 

of Plate VII of my report on the Moorefield fauna,1 but it has rather 

stronger and more persistent costse.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 

388 and 1237B).

CAMAROTCECHIA PURDUEI var. AGRESTIS Girty ?

1911. Camarotcechia purduei var. agrestis. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. CO,

pi. 5, figs. 1^4a. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Ark.

A fragmentary dorsal valve occurs in the collection which seems 

to agree very well with this species, but its characters are so incompletely known that an unqualified identification can not be made.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 387a).

MOOREFIELDELLA EUREKENSIS Walcott.

1884. Rhynchonella Eurekensis. Walcott, U. S. Geol. Survey Mou. 8, p. 223, pi. 18,

figs. 8-8c.

Lower Carboniferous: Eureka district, Nev. 

1911. Moorefieldella eurekensis. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 63, pi. 5,

figs. 12-17a. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Ark.

To this species is referred a single ventral valve, and though it is 

imperfect the characters shown place its identity beyond reasonable 

doubt.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 

1237B). - SPIRIFER MARTINIIFORMIS n. sp.

Plate I, figures 2-4.

1911. Martinia glabraf Girty, U. S'. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 70, pi. 9, figs. 9-11. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Spring Creek, Ark.

This is the most abundant species of the fauna under investigation, 

but though numerously represented in the collection its relationships 

are nevertheless incompletely known. The specimens are preserved 

as molds in chert, and rarely can an external mold be correlated 

with the internal mold of the same specimen. Most of the specimens 

also are more or less crushed, and many are broken around the 

margins back to where the secondary thickening gives strength to 

the umbonal portion, which is, on this account, alone preserved.

In spite of these disadvantages, however, it seems clear that we 

have a large oval shell varying somewhat in proportions but invariably 

wider than long, even- in the case of the ventral valve, and having its 

greatest width a little in advance of the long hinge line. The ventral

i Fauna of the Moorefleld shale of Arkansas: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 126, p. 6, flg. 4,1911.
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 81

valve is rather strongly convex and has its apical portion prominent 

and incurved over a somewhat ill-defined (?) cardinal area which is 

divided by the usual triangular foramen. The sinus is relatively 

narrow and strong above, but broad, shallow, and undefined toward 

the front. The shell is considerably thickened over the posterior 

parts so that internal molds appear less convex than external ones. 

These testaceous deposits tend to obscure, though they by no means 

completely obscure, two well-defined dental plates.

The dorsal valve corresponds in a general way to the ventral, but 

it is less convex, and, as it lacks the projecting umbo, it is relatively 

much more transverse. A low but distinct fold is developed, broadening sharply toward the front.

The exterior is marked by a few regularly arranged lamellose 

growth lines but is otherwise smooth. It should be noted, however, 

that some specimens seem to show a few hardly perceptible radial 

costae near the fold, asymmetrically developed on one side and not 

on the other.

This is undoubtedly the species which in the Moorefield shale I 

identified as Martinia glabraf and the specimens from that formation 

may be considered cotypes with those figured here. All the anomalous 

characters are shown which made it doubtful whether to place the 

species in the genus Martinia, or in Martmiopsis, or in Spirifer.

After examining many more specimens than I was able to obtain 

from the "Spring Creek limestone," preserved in such manner as to 

show the critical characters clearly, I am now able to state that dental 

plates are a persistent character of these shells. A continued reference to the genus Martinia seems therefore hardly justified. I also 

hesitate to cite them under Martiniopsis, a genus which seems to be 

developed in a widely different and much younger fauna. I am 

therefore citing them under the genus Spirifer, to which the presence 

of radial costae, though only as traces and perhaps somewhat doubtful 

ones, also suggests an affinity. The character of the surface, smooth 

instead of bristling with fimbriae of spines, forbids a reference to 

Reticularia, besides which this form has no septum in the ventral 

valve.

This form is readily distinguished from others known to me by 

reason of the dental plates and the essential absence of radial costae.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 

387, 387a, 388, and 389).

SPIRIFER ARKANSANUS Girty.

1911. Spirifer arkansanus. Girty, II. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 66, pi. 8, figs. 2-4. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle. Ark.

This form is abundant at locality 1237B, though rare elsewhere, 

and the specimens seen are fragmentary and ill preserved. There
32 FAUNA OP BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

is, nevertheless, hardly room for doubt that some of them at least 

belong to the species named. Some specimens (for instance, internal 

molds which show neither the shape nor the costate surface clearly) 

can not be satisfactorily distinguished from certain associated types, 

so that it is possible that the distribution in the collections is wider 

than I have indicated, and also that some of the specimens included 

here may belong elsewhere.

Locality. Batesville. quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 

387a and 1237B).

RETICULARIA SETIGERA Hall.

Plate I, figures 6, 7.

1858. Spirifer setigerus. Hall, Iowa Geol. Survey Kept., vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 705, pi. 27,

figs. 4a, 4b.

Kaskaskia limestone: Kaskaskia and Chester, 111. 

1877. Spirifera setigera. Hall and Whitfield, TJ..S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par. Kept.,

vol. 4, p. 270, pi. 5, figs. 17, 18. 

Lower Carboniferous limestone: North of Snowstorm Hill, Dry Canyon, Oquirrh

Mountains, Utah. 

1883. Reticularia setigera. Waagen, India Geol. Survey Mem., Palseontologica Indica,

ser. 13, vol. 1, p. 542. 

1883. Spirifera setigera. Hall, New York State Geologist Kept, for 1882, pi. (36) 61,

figs. 26, 27.

Chester limestone: Chester, 111. 

1893. Spirifer setigerus. Hall and Clarke, New York Geol. Survey, Paleontology

vol. 8, pt. 2, pp. 21, 37. (Advance distribution in fascicles.) 

1895. Spirifer setigerus. Hall and Clarke, idem, pp. 21, 37, pi. 36, figs. 26, 27. (Date

of imprint, 1894.)

Chester limestone: Chester, 111. 

1895. Spirifera setigera. Keyes, Missouri Geol. Survey, vol. 5, p. 83. (Date of imprint, ]894.)

Kaskaskia limestone: St. Marys, Mo. 

1906. Reticularia setigerus. Beede, Indiana Dept. Geology and Nat. Res. Thirtieth

Ann. Kept, (for 1905), p. 1318, pi. 21, figs. 1, la. 

Salem limestone: Lanesville and Bedford, Ind.

1911. Reticularia setigera. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 69, pi! 8, figs. 6, 6a. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Spring Creek, Ark..

The stratigraphic position in which these specimens occur makes it 

important to determine whether they belong to the upper Mississippian species R. setigera or to the lower Mississippian species R. pseudolineata. R. setigera and R. pseudolineata are more similar than Hall's 

figures would lead one to suppose, because his figure of R, pseudolineata represents an abnormal specimen. At least, many of the specimens 

which I have seen from the Keokuk and from the Burlington, and the 

species is not rare at either horizon, are larger and especially have 

neither so transverse a shape nor so well developed a fold and sinus.

Comparing the two species Hall says of R. setigera that the area is 

much shorter and the mesial fold and sinus more strongly defined. 

According to my observations R. setigera is also a much smaller 

species.
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 33

In size the specimens under discussion suggest R. setigera much 

more than R. pseudolineata, for they are less than 27 millimeters in 

width. On the other hand, since the fold and sinus are very imperfectly developed, the agreement in this particular is rather with 

R. pseudolineata. I am not sure that the outline and sculpture 

present any features which aid the identification. The internal 

structures, however, are dissimilar to those of R. pseudolineata, in 

which the septum of the ventral valve is thin and high and is continued far into the cavity of the beak and in which the dorsal valve 

also has a well-developed median septum. In these specimens the 

ventral septum is thick and not very high and it does not extend far 

into the beak, whereas in the dorsal valve internal structures are 

( more or less completely obsolete. If these differences are constant, 

^ and I have no evidence to the contrary, and if youthful conditions of 

R. pseudolineata do not exhibit similar phases, the internal structures 

of the present specimens indicate that they belong to a different 

species. They do not necessarily indicate the same species as R. 

setigera, however, as the internal peculiarities of R. setigera are not 

known to me.

So far as can be told this is the same form which occurs in the 

"Spring Creek limestone" and which I identified from it as R. setigera. 

For the reasons given above I believe that it is a different species 

from R. pseudolineata but am not sure that it actually belongs to 

R. setigera. If it does not, it apparently represents a species undescribed.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations

387, 387a?, 388, 389, and 1237B).

f

MARTINIA ? PILOSA n. sp.

k Plate I, figures 8,9. *

1911. Martinia sp. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 72, pi. 9, fig. 8. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Ark.

This is the species which in the' ' Spring Creek limestone ;; I described

as Martinia sp. The most characteristic specimens in the present

collection were found at locality 1237B and are in the form of internal

'"" and externals molds. The external molds show the surface to be

n marked by very fine concentric striae and by numerous fine hairlike

spines which tend to an arrangement in concentric rows. With one

of the external molds belongs an internal mold showing both valves

^ in conjunction but having the posterior portion missing. In this

specimen the dorsal valve is nearly flat and the size and shape are,

* so far as determined, like those of the specimen from the "Spring 

v Creek limestone" represented by my illustration. According to 

49775° Bull. 595 15 3
34 FAUNA OF BOONE CHERT NEAR BATESVILLE, ARK.

observations made on the form from the "Spring Creek limestone" 

the ventral valve should be without dental plates, and such appears 

to be the condition of a few specimens from station 389 included in 

this species. These, however, do not show the superficial characters.

As the specimens are presented for study it is difficult, perhaps 

impossible, to separate MJ pilosa from several other species in this 

fauna, even from species only remotely related to this, though with 

well-preserved material there should be no difficulty. The associated 

type which is really most closely related is Spirifer martiniiformis, 

but though the two forms are apparently much alike in general configuration they may be distinguished, when these characters can be 

determined, by the one being small, without dental plates, and with 

a finely spinose surface, and by the other being large, with dental 

plates, and with smooth surface. I do not see how these differences 

can be ascribed merely to age, and I am led even to refer the two 

forms to different genera. What genus is really proper to receive 

the present one especially, is doubtful. In my Moorefield paper the 

three genera Martinia, Reticularia (Squamularia), and Ambocoelia 

were discussed, but MJ pilosa would appear to possess anomalous 

features for either genus.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 387 ?, 

387a, 389, 1237B).

, PELECYPODA.

CONOCARDIUM MEEKANUM Var. MAGNUM n. Var. 

Plate II, figures 3, 4.

Ccnocardiums occur in the collections with some frequency and at 

least three species seem to be represented, only one of which can be 

described with reasonable completeness, because as usual the material 

is fragmentary or otherwise imperfect. The best specimen, a left 

valve, has a subtriangular shape and appears to be without a tubelike anterior projection. The width along the hinge line is 12 milli-r 

meters, the length along the umbonal ridge is about the same, and 

the extreme length (obliquely from the posterior-superior to the 

anterior-inferior angle) is about 16 millimeters. The anterior outline 

is slightly oblique downward to the projecting rounded 'anteriorinferior angle. The convexity is high, but the posterior parts are 

compressed, and the umbonal ridge is angular and prominent.

The surface is marked by slender, sharp, radial lirse which are more 

crowded over the umbonal region (where they stand about their own 

width apart) and are more widely spaced posteriorly. The anterior 

sculpture as usual is discrepant with the rest. In front of the umbonal 

ridge the costse abruptly stand at wide intervals and are gradually 

more and more crowded toward the anterior extremity. The ribs are
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 35

alternating. On the outside these markings appear as narrow ridges 

and wide striae, but on the internal mold they appear just the reverse, 

as wide ridges and narrow striae, the internal markings, however, 

being on a much larger scale than the external. In addition to the 

costae there are fine, regular, concentric lamellae.

This form resembles C. meekanum and C. cuneatum of the Spergen 

fauna. It is of course much larger, and the sculpture, though of the 

same general character, differs in proportions. It is probable that the 

present form should be considered as a distinct variety, if nothing 

more. There seems to be no other species of similar age or faunal 

association with which an equally close relationship exists.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 387, 

387a, 388?, and 389).

CONOCARDIUM Sp. Cl. 

Plate II, figures 5, 6.

This title is used for a specimen partly concealed in chert which, 

so far as known, has the general configuration of 0. meekanum var. 

magnum, but differs chiefly in its smaller size and coarser sculpture. 

This is a testiferous specimen and shows strong sharp costse much 

more than their own diameter apart, but becoming finer and more 

closely arranged toward the posterior extremity, and finer and much 

more closely arranged anterior to the umbonal ridge, which is prominent and narrowly rounded. The ribs are crossed by rather coarse 

crenulating concentric lamellae.

This may be a young specimen of the larger form named above, 

which has retained the primary costae without developing interstitial 

ones, but for the present it seems inadvisable to refer both to the same 

species.

CONOCARDIUM sp. b.

This type is represented by a single specimen much resembling 

species a, like it, testiferous and, like it, partly buried in chert. The 

configuration also appears to be similar, but the sculpture is markedly 

different. In species & the costae are broad and rounded instead of 

narrow and sharp, and they are separated by intervals about equal 

to their own width or less. They are coarse and widely separated on 

the posterior wing and are much finer and rather crowded at and 

near the umbonal ridge. The concentric lirae are very fine, even, 

and closely arranged, though toward the margin they are replaced 

by heavy striae due to intermittent growth.

This species is certainly distinct from both C. meekanum and Conocardium sp. a, unless the difference in sculpture is an abnormality.
36 FAUNA OF BOOJSTE CHERT NEAE BATESVILLE, ARK.

PARALLELODON MULTILIRATUS Girty. 

Plate II, figures 8, 9.

1909. Parallelodon multiliratus. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 377, p. 39, pi. 3,

figs. 4, 5.

Caney shale: Atoka and Tishomingo quadrangles, Okla. 

1911. Parallelodon multiliratus. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 85, pi. 12,

figs. 3-4. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Ark.

Two specimens, agreeing in every particular with specimens from 

the "Spring Creek limestone," represent this species. One of them 

is especially perfect and shows the dentition. It is a left valve and 

possesses at least five small oblique anterior teeth and about four 

parallel posterior teeth. These are strong and large toward the 

posterior superior angle, but toward the umbo they are replaced by 

five or six much finer lamellae, which do not conform entirely to those 

farther back.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 389).

GASTROPODA.

BEMBEXIA NODIMARGINATA McChesney.

Plate II, figure 7.

1860. Pleurotomarianodomarginata. McChesney, Desc. New Species Pal. Foss., p. 70.

(Date of imprint, 1859.) 

Hamilton group: Near Batesville, Ark. 

1865. Pleurotomaria nodomarginata. McChesney, Illustrations New Species Foss., pi.

7, figs. la-c. 

1868. Pleurotomarianodomarginata. McChesney, Chicago Acad. Sci. Trans., vol. 1,

p. 47, pi. 7, figs.'la-c. (Date of imprint, 1867-1869.) 

Hamilton group: Near Batesville, Ark. 

1884. Pleurotomaria nodomarginata. Walcott, U. S. Geol. Survey Mou. 8, p. 259, pi.

18, fig. 15.

Lower Carboniferous: Eureka district, Nev. 

1911. Bembexia nodimarginata. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 91* pi. 7,

figs. 1-5. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Ark.

This type is abundant in collection 387a, and the specimens show a 

wide range of variation. Part of this variation is in the shape, some 

specimens having a narrower, others a broader spiral angle. Rather 

more marked is the variation in sculpture, and although this is probably in part ascribable to preservation I am inclined to think that 

several valid varieties might be discriminated with good material.

In some specimens the transverse markings are fine and faint so 

that the surface appears almost smooth. In others, however, they 

are strong and coarse, so that the surface looks transversely corrugated. These varieties are without conspicuous nodose swellings 

below the suture, but another type has the strong transverse costse 

alternately large and small, the smaller ones not continued quite to
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 37

the suture and the larger ones persistent and expanded into nodes 

of different sizes in different specimens. Some of the smaller costse 

appear to branch from the larger; and, again, the nodes may be 

large and prominent close to the suture, but may have the costas with 

which they are connected and also the intermediate costse only partly 

developed. All these modifications are more or less closely connected 

in series, and most of them appear to be indicated in McChesney's 

original description and figures. Some of my specimens show more 

prominent nodes than are represented by him, and on the other hand 

my figure of a Moorefield shale specimen scarcely shows this character at all. The specimen, however, is an internal mold or nearly so 

and does not retain the nodes in the degree in which I believe they 

were originally present.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 387; 

387a, and 1237B?).

BEMBEXIA sp.

This type is known from two very imperfect specimens. It is a 

large shell, in a general way suggesting Pleurotomaria aff. P. carbonaria, 

but perhaps with a somewhat higher spire. The greatest diameter 

may be 35 millimeters or even more. The volutions are more or less 

regularly rounded, only slightly embracing, and with deep sutures. 

The surface is crossed by strong, regular, transverse lirae which 

apparently subside to more or less inconspicuous growth lines on the 

under side. A broad, sharply defined slit band is developed on the 

periphery.

In sculpture this form resembles B. nodimarginata but is perhaps 

without the nodes close to the suture. It appears to be readily distinguished also by its much larger size, more rounded whorls, and 

deeper sutures. This type is not known in the Moorefield fauna (including that of the "Spring Creek limestone").

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (stations 390 

and 1248W).

PLEUROTOMARIA aff. CARBONARIA Norwood and Pratten.

Five specimens from station 389 show a type of shell apparently 

belonging to the group of Pleurotomaria carbonaria. They are all 

either fragmentary or very much crushed and some of their characters 

are not definitely known.

The size is large (about 17 millimeters in greatest width) and the 

spire moderately high. The volutions, which were about six in number, appear to have been rather regularly rounded and are not 

strongly embracing, so that the sutures are deeply impressed. There 

is some evidence of a slight flattening of the upper surface and an 

attendant angulation where it gives onto the curved sides.
38 FAUNA OF BOONE CHEBT NEAR BATESVILLE, ABK.

The sculpture consists of numerous angular revolving lirae separated by somewhat wider striae. The lirae are not absolutely equal 

and one distinctly larger than the rest apparently occurs at the junction of the upper and the lateral surfaces. There are also numerous 

fine lamellose transverse lirae, which produce crenulations on the 

revolving ones. Their course can not be described in detail, but it 

is sinuous, with a broad rounded sinus across the periphery. The 

presence of a slit or a slit band has not been ascertained.

If a slit and slit band are absent, the reference to Pleurotomaria is 

of course not correct, although these structures are not well shown in 

P. carbonaria, which is certainly one of the Pleurotomarias. Perhaps the generic relationship will prove to be rather with Cyclonema.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 389).

PLEUROTOMARIA sp.

This is a single specimen and a mere fragment. It is an ornate type 

marked above and below by strong, sharp, revolving lirae. The 

rather broad slit band is situated on the peripheral line and is traversed 

a little above the middle by a double row of small nodes connected 

by two slender ridges. This type also has no analogue in the Moorefield shale (including the "Spring Creek limestone") so far as known.

Locality, Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 

387a).

EUOMPHALUS PLANIDORSATUS Meek and Worthen? 

Plate II, figures 1, 2.

1860. Euomphalus planodorsatus. Meek and AVorthen, Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 

Proc., p. 462.

Chester.limestone: Thompson's quarry, Randolph County, 111. 

1863. Euomphalus perspectives. Swallow, St. Louis Acad. Sci. Trans., vol. 2, p. 98.

Kaskaskia limestone.

1866. Straparollus planidorsatus. Meek and Worthen, Illinois Geol. Survey, vol. 2, 

p. 302, pi. 24, figs. 2a-c.

Chester group: Thompson's quarry, Randolph County, 111. 

1894. Straparollus planidorsatus. Keyes, Missouri Geol. Survey, vol. 5, p. 160.

Kaskaskia limestone: St. Marys, Mo.

This type is represented by a single specimen preserved as an external mold of the upper surface. The shell is small, 13 millimeters 

across, and thus it is intermediate in size between E. planidorsatus 

and the related E. similis. The spire is low and the upper surface 

of the volutions flattened. An indistinct carina is developed toward 

the outer margin, but its obscurity, together with the absence of 

data regarding the under side of the shell, brings the identification 

into considerable doubt. This type also is not known in the Moorefield shale (including the "Spring Creek limestone").

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 389).
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES. 39

SPHJERODOMA ? sp.

This is a single imperfect specimen and is mentioned only because 

it belongs to a type not yet found in the Moorefield shale (including 

the '' Spring Creek limestone ").

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 389).

OSTRACODA.

PRIMITIA MOOREFIELDANA Girty?

1911. Primitia moorefieldana. Girty, U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 439, p. 106, pi. 9, figs.

6-7a. 

Moorefield shale: Batesville quadrangle, Ark.

Ostracods are fairly abundant at station 389, but though some of 

the cherts in which they occur are soft enough to permit one to 

uncover their outlines they are nevertheless preserved as molds, 

chiefly as molds of the interior, and the study which I have devoted 

to them does not warrant definite conclusions as to their specific and. 

generic relations. Two genera are present, Bairdia and another type 

which appears to be Primitia, both of which genera are found also 

in the "Spring Creek limestone." That the third genus from the 

"Spring Creek limestone," Paraparchites, does not also occur among 

these specimens I am not able to affirm. At least no specimens can 

be positively identified as Paraparchites. The Primitia-like type is 

more common than the other, but its generic position is open to 

question. The general appearance is suggestive of P. moorefieldana, 

but the median pit is indistinct,. as might perhaps be expected in 

internal molds.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 389).

BAIRDIA aff. B. CESTRIENSIS Ulrich. 

Plate II, figure 10.

Three or four specimens only are included here. Their shape reveals their generic position with some certainty, but their specific 

relations are less clearly indicated. They appear to be less elongate 

than B. attenuata of the "Spring Creek limestone," their proportions 

being more like those of B. cestriensis. In fact, the most perfect of 

my specimens closely resembles one of Ulrich's figures.1 It differs 

chiefly in being rather larger and in having its posterior extremity so 

shaped that the pointed termination is more central and the outline 

below more strongly curved upward, an appearance which might to 

some extent be produced by a slightly different posing of the specimen. 

It seems rather improbable that this is really B. cestriensis, though it 

appears to be a related species.

Locality. Batesville quadrangle, Ark., Spring Creek (station 389).

i Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist. Jour., vol. 13, pi. 17, fig. 6a, 1891.
REGISTER OF LOCALITIES. I

Station 387. Batesville quadrangle. Loose piece of chert in the bed of Spring j 

Creek, a mile or two above Ruddells Mill. 

Station 387a. Another loose piece found near by. j

Station 388. Batesville quadrangle. Spring Creek, 1 mile above the trestle near ;. 

Ruddells Mill. Loose pieces of chert from the top of the hill, probably about in place. I

.Station 389. Batesville quadrangle. Loose blocks of chert, probably about, in 

place on the hillside just south of station 390, but about 150 feet higher in section.

Station 390. Batesville quadrangle. Hillside along Spring Creek, one-half mile 

north of Ruddells Mill, near Batesville^ Ark. Lower part of black calcareous shale 

near the middle of the chert member. ';

Station 1237B. Batesville quadrangle. Probably in the NW. £ NE. J sec. 21, T. 

13 N., R. 7 W. The point thus designated is 6 or 7 miles southwest of Batesville, Ark. /

Station 1248W. Batesville quadrangle. Found loose on the railroad embankment ». 

along Spring Creek, near Batesville, Ark.

40
PLATE I.
PLATE I.

PRODUCTELLA HIRSUTIFORMIS var. BATESVILLENSIS ? (p. 26).

FIGURE 1. External mold of a dorsal valve, with an impression of the area of the corresponding ventral valve.

SPIRIFER MARTINIIFORMIS (p. 30).

FIGURE 2. Internal mold of a ventral valve, showing the impressions of the dental 

plates.

3. Squeeze made from an external mold of a crushed ventral valve. These 

molds, when best preserved, are smooth save for obscure incremental 

lines.

4. Internal mold of a dorsal valve.

LlORHYNCHUS OARBONIFERUM Var. POLYPLEURUM ? (p. 29). 

FIGURE 5. Squeeze of an external mold of a ventral valve.

RETICULARIA SETIGERA (p. 31).

FIGURE 6. Internal mold of a ventral valve.

7. Internal mold of a compressed dorsal valve.

MARTINIA? PILOSA (p. 33).

FIGURE 8. Internal mold of a ventral valve.

9. Part of the external mold of a dorsal valve, X 10. This shows the fine 

incremental lamellae surmounted by hairlike spines which in the impression are represented by tiny holes.

LlNGULA ALBAPINENSIS (p. 25). 

FIGURE 10. A dorsal? valve, the only specimen seen.

KHIPIDOMELLA ARKANSANA (p. 28).

FIGURE 11. Ventral view of a bivalve specimen from the black shale occurring midway

in the chert series. 

12. Dorsal view of same.

42
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 595 PLATE I

i

XIO

BRACHIOPODA.

12 '
PLATE II.

43
PLATE II.

EUOMPHALTJS PLANEDORSATUS ? (p. 38).

FIGURE 1. A squeeze from a mold of the upper surface. 

2. Side view in outline.

CONOCAEDIUM MEEKANUM Var. MAGNUM (p. 34).

FIGURE 3. Internal mold of a medium-sized specimen.

4. Squeeze from a part of the external mold of same, X 2. The exterior of 

this specimen is marked by fine sharp costse, while the mold of the 

inner surface seems to be marked by coarse flat ones. The markings, 

of course, represent shallow, widely spaced grooves on the inside of 

the shell.

CONOCARDIUM Sp. ft. (p. 35).

FIGURE 5. A testiferous specimen preserved in chert, X 2. 

6. Same, natural size, in outline.

BEMBEXIA NODIMAEGINATA (p. 36).

FIGURE 7. A fragment of chert with three specimens embedded in it, X 3. 

PARALLELODON MULTILIRATUS (p. 35).

FIGURE 8. Internal mold of a left valve.

9. Same, X 2, showing the impression of the hinge teeth.

BAIRDIA aff. B. CESTRIENSIS (p. 39). 

FIGURE 10. An internal mold, X 10.

LlORHYNCHUS CARBONIFERUM (p. 28).

FIGURE 11. A slab containing impressions of a number of specimens. 

44
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 595 PLATE

10

BRACHIOPOOA, PELECYPODA, GASTROPODA, AND OSTRACODA.
INDEX.

B.

Bairdia aff. B. cestriensis.................... 39,44

at tenuata................................ 39

Batostomella sp............................. 24

Berabexia nodomarginata................ 36-37,44

sp....................................... 37

Boone chert, a distinct formation............ 17

correlation of............................ 21-23

relations of, to the Boone limestone...... 15-17

Brachiopoda................................. 25-34

Branner, J. C., fossils collected'by........... 11

Bryozoa..................................... 24-25

C.

Camarotocchia purduei var. agrestis......... 30

Ccelenterata................................. 23-24

Conocardium cuneatum..................... 35

meekanum.............................. 35

var. magnum..................... 34-35,44

sp.a..................................... 35,44

sp! &........................ ............ 35

D. 

Derbya sp................................... 20

Diaphragmus elegans, inference from........ 17

E. 

Eumetria marcyi var. costata................ 29

Euomphalus perspectivus................... 38

planiclorsatus............................ 38,44

similis................................... 38

Fossils, agreement of, with those of Moorefleld shale...............:....... 12

mode of occurrence of.................... 5,10

where collected.......................... 10-12

O. 

Gastropoda.................................. 36-39

Geologic section, components of.............. 5-7

L. 

Leiorhynchus quadricostatus................ 29

Lingula albapinensis........................ 25,42

Lingulidiscina newberryi var. moorefleldana. 25 

Liorhynchus aff. L. laura.................... 29

aff. L. mesicostale....................... 29

carboniferum............................ 29,44

var. polypleurum................. 29-30,42

Lithology of the Boone chert................ 7-9

M. 

Martinia glabra.............................. 30,31

pilosa.................................° 33-34,42

Moorefleldella eurekensis.................... 30

eurekensis var. cviboicles................. 29-30

N. 

New Providence formation, correlation of.... 20

fauna of................................. 19

position of............................... 18

O.

Page. 

39

Parallelodon multiliratus.................... 36,44

Pelecypoda.................................. 34-30

Pleurotomaria aff. carbonaria................ 37-38

nodomarginata.......................... 36

sp....................................... 38

Primitia moorefleldana.....:................ 39

Productella arcuata.......................... 28

concentrica.............................. 28

hirsutiformis............................ 20

var. batesvillensis................... 20-27

Productus boliviensis........................ 27

giganteus................................ 28

inflatus.................................. 27

var. coloradoeusis.................... 27,28

magnus, inference from.................. 10

pileiformis............................... 27-28

subsulcatus var. janus................... 26,28

sp. o..................................... 28

sp. 6...........'.......................... 28

R. 

Register of localities......................... 40

Reticularia pseudolineata.................... 32,33

setigera............................... 32-33,42

Rhipidomella arkansana..................... 28,42

Rhombopora sp............................. 25

Rhynchonella eurekensis ................... 30

Ridgetop, Tenn., geologic section at......... 17-23

Ridgetop shale, correlation with............. 20-21

fauna of................................. 19

position of............................... 18

S.

"Spring Creek limestone," classification of... 12-15 

correlation of............................ 22-23

Sphserodoma sp............................. 39

Spirifer arkansanus.......................... 31-32

martiniiformis...........'.......... 30-31,34,42

setigerus................................. 32

Spirifera setigera............................. 32

Stenopora sp................................ 24

Straparollus planidorsatus................... 38

Triplophyllum centrale............. ........ 23,24

sp....................................... 24

sp. a..................................... 23-24

Tullahoma formation, members of........... 18

W.

Waynesboro quadrangle, Tenn., geologic

section at........................ 17-23

Weller, S., specimens collected by........... 8,9

Whites Creek Spring, stratigraphy at ....... 18

Williams, H. S., specimens collected by..... 8-9

45

O