The Habitat of the Eurypterida

by Marjorie O'Connell

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY
OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
VOL. XXVI, No. 7

THE HABITAT OF THE EURYPTERIDA

BY
MARJORIE O'CONNELL, A.M.
Curator in Palæontology in Columbia University

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Pure Science,
Columbia University.

Reprinted from
The Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences,
Vol. XI, No. 3, pp. 1–278, Buffalo, N. Y., 1916

CONTENTS

				PAGE
Introduction				7
Chapter I. Systematic Review of the Occurrence of the Eurypterida in each Period from the Pre-Cambric through the Permic				11
	Introductory			11
	North America			11
		Pre-Cambric		11
		Cambric		13
		Ordovicic		13
		Siluric		15
			Lower Siluric or Niagaran	15
			Middle Siluric or Salinan	17
			Upper Siluric or Monroan	19
		Devonic		22
		Mississippic		23
		Carbonic		23
	Great Britain			25
		Siluric		25
			Lower Siluric or Llandovery—Wenlock	25
			Upper Siluric or Ludlow	26
			The Lanarkian	28
		Devonic		28
		Mississippic or Calciferous		28
		Carbonic or Carboniferous		30
	Bohemia			30
		Siluric		30
			Lower Siluric or E e1 and E e2 of Barrande	30
			Upper Siluric or F f1 or Barrande	32
		Carbonic		32
			Coal measures of Bohemia	32
	Belgium			32
		Devonic		32
			Upper Devonic	32
	Baltic Islands and Russia			33
		Siluric		33
			Upper Siluric of Gotland	33
			Upper Siluric of Oesel	34
	Austro-Russian Border Lands			35
		Siluric		35
			Upper Siluric of Podolia and Galicia	35
		Devonic		35
			Middle Devonic of Galicia	35

					PAGE
	Australia				35
		Siluric			35
			Upper Siluric		35
	Germany				35
		Carbonic			35
			Middle Saarbrüicker		35
	South America				36
		Carbonic			36
			Coal Measures of Brazil		36
	Africa				36
		Devonic			36
			Witteberg series		36
	Portugal				37
		Permic			37
	Summary Tables				37
		Table I. Geological and Geographical Distribution of the Eurypterida throughout the World			37
		Table II. Summary of the Geological and Geographical Distribution of the Eurypterida throughout the World			37
		Table III. Summary of the Distribution, Facies and Mode of Occurrence of the Eurypterida			38
	Synonymy				50
Chapter II. A Résumé of the Opinions on the Habitat of the Eurypterida					52
Chapter III. The Bionomy of the Eurypterid Faunas					64
	Introduction				64
	Classification of Recent Aqueous Habitats				65
		Classification of Aqueous Bionomic Realms According to Salinity			66
	Recent Aquatic Faunas				67
		Marine			67
		Fresh Water			69
			Table Showing Number of Genera and Species of Mollusca in Various Bionomic Realms		69
		Brackish Water			70
			The Baltic Sea		70
				Comparative Number of Species of Invertebrates in the Baltic, etc.	72
			The Severn Estuary		73
	Summary of Faunal Criteria for Determining the Type of an Aqueous Habitat				76
	Application to the Past				77
		Marine Deposits and Faunas			78
		Fluviatile Deposits and Faunas			79
		Brackish Water and Estuarine Deposits and Faunas			83
	The Eurypterid Faunas and their Associated Organisms				84
		Ordovicic			84
			Normanskill Fauna		84
			Schenectady Fauna		84

	The Eurypterid Faunas and their Associated Organisms—continued			PAGE
		Siluric		84
			Lower Siluric (E e1) Fauna of Bohemia	84
			Upper Lower Siluric (E e1) of Bohemia	85
			Wenlock fauna of Pentland Hills, Scotland	85
			Shawangunk Fauna of Eastern North America	86
			Pittsford Fauna of New York	86
			Bertie Fauna	87
			Kokomo Fauna	87
			Upper Siluric Fauna of Oesel	87
			Temeside Fauna of England	88
			Ludlow Fauna of Scotland	88
			Lanarkian Fauna of Scotland	90
		Devonic		90
			Old Red Sandstone Fauna of Scotland	90

Chapter IV. The Lithogenesis of the Eurypterid-bearing Beds						93
	1.	The Belt Terrane				93
	2.	The Normanskill and Schenectady Beds				96
			Summary			100
	3.	The Shawangunk Conglomerate				100
	4.	The Pittsford Shale				102
	5.	The Bertie Waterlime				106
			Theories of Origin			108
				a.	Chemical Origin	108
				b. c.	Organic Origin	109
				d.	Clastic origin	109
			Summary			117
	6.	The Kokomo Waterlime				118
	7.	The Tarannon-Wenlock Beds of Southern Scotland				120
			Distribution of Formations			120
			The Llandovery-Tarannon			123
			Wenlock of the Pentland Hills			131
	8.	The Upper Siluric of Oesel				140
			History of Discoveries			141
		General Stratigraphy				143
	9.	Upper Siluric of Podolia and Galicia				149
	10.	The Ludlow of England and the Ludlow and Lanarkian of Scotland				151
			Introduction			151
			The Upper Siluric of England			153
			The Ludlow and Lanarkian of Lanarkshire			159
				1.	The Lesmahagow Inlier	160
				2.	The Anticline of the Hagshaw Hills	165
	11.	The Old Red Sandstone				167
			History and Subdivisions			167
				The Caledonian		172
				The Orcadian		176
			Theories of Deposition			177

	11.	The Old Red Sandstone—continued						PAGE
				Deposition in Lakes				177
				Deposition in the Sea				179
			Objections to Lake and Marine Theories					180
				1.	Physical			180
						(a)	Red Color	180
						(b)	Marine Denudation	181
						(c)	Salt Indicative of Marine Deposition	182
						(d)	Thickness of Deposits	182
						(e)	Structural Features	184
				2.	Faunal			184
			Summary					186
			Theory of Fluviatile Deposition					186
				Summary of evidence of Fluviatile Deposition				189
					(a)	Lithogenesis		189
					(b)	Faunal		191
	12.	Miscellaneous Occurrences						193

Chapter V. The Geological and Geographical Distribution of the Eurypterids and the Conditions of Migration				200
	Summary of Facts Observed Regarding the Distribution of the Eurypterids			200
	Migration and Dispersal of Recent Fluviatile Organisms			203
		A. Species Identical in Distant Continents		203
		B. Genera Identical in Distant Continents		204
		C. Families Identical in Distant Continents		204
		Summary		205
	Application of Principles Deduced from Modern Faunal Distribution			207
	Migration and Distribution of the Eurypterids			212
		Theory of Early Marine Habitat and Routes of Migration		212
		Objection to Marine Habitat Theory		212
		Theory of River Habitat		216
		The Eurypterid Faunas Considered by Continents		217
		The Eurypterid Faunas of Appalachia		217
			Comparison of Pittsford and Shawangunk Faunas	225
		Summary of Facts of Distribution in Continent of Appalachia		226
		The Eurypterid Faunas of Atlantica		228
			Comparison of Pittsford-Shawangunk and Bertie Faunas	229
			The Upper Siluric Faunas of the Baltic Region	236
			The Fauna of the Wenlock	238
			Summary of the Wenlock Faunas	242
			The Fauna of the Ludlow	242
			The Old Red Sandstone Fauna	247
		Summary of Facts of Distribution on Continent of Atlantica		253
		The Eurypterid Fauna of Mississippia		253
Concluding Remarks				256
Bibliography				257