William Henry Matthews

Figures— Page

1. Sketch of a coprolite—fossilized animal excrement 14

2. Sketch of a gastrolith—the gizzard stone of an ancient reptile 14

3. Dendrites—a typical pseudofossil 14

4. Types of symmetry in a fossil coral 24

5. Bilateral symmetry in fossil brachiopod 24

6. A brachiopod showing specimen number and accompanying label 31

7. Two types of micropaleontological slides 32

8. Typical Pennsylvanian crinoidal limestone 41

9. Typical Texas Foraminifera 49

10. Typical radiolarians 49

11. Morphology and principal parts of corals 50

12. Two types of bryozoans 50

13. Morphology and principal parts of articulate brachiopods 54

14. Lingula, a typical inarticulate brachiopod 56

15. Kingena wacoensis, a common Cretaceous brachiopod 56

16. Morphology and principal parts of gastropod shells 60

17. Morphology and principal parts of a typical pelecypod shell 65

18. Morphology and principal parts of the pearly nautilus 75

19. Characteristic features of the various types of cephalopod sutures 75

20. Types of typical fossil annelid worms 78

21. Morphology and principal parts of trilobites 80

22. Two extinct attached echinoderms, Pentremites and Caryocrinites 81

23. Typical modern crinoid, or “sea lily,” showing principal parts 81

24. Graptolites 86

25. Sketches of mastodon and mammoth teeth 104

26. Two views of a typical fossil horse tooth 104

Plates— Page

1. Geologic time scale Frontispiece

2. Types of fossil preservation 8

3. Silicified brachiopods dissolved from Permian limestones of the Glass Mountains, Brewster County, Texas 12

4. Dinosaur tracks in limestone in bed of Paluxy Creek near Glen Rose, Somervell County, Texas 15

5. Fossil collecting equipment 18

6-8. Fossil identification charts 28-30

9. Physiographic map of Texas 36

10. Geologic map of Texas 38-39

11. Geologic range of the major groups of plants and animals 45

12. Fossil plants—thallophytes and tracheophytes 46

13. Fossil plants—tracheophytes 47

14. Paleozoic sponges and sponge spicules 51

15. Pennsylvanian corals 52

16. Cretaceous and Tertiary corals 53

17. Pennsylvanian bryozoans and Cambrian and Mississippian brachiopods 55

18, 19. Pennsylvanian brachiopods 57, 58

20. Pennsylvanian gastropods 61

21. Pennsylvanian and Cretaceous gastropods 62

22, 23. Tertiary gastropods 63, 64

Plate 1
GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

Texas Fossils
An Amateur Collector’s Handbook

William H. Matthews III[1]