Illustrations
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 [24. Pennsylvanian pelecypods] 67 [25-28. Cretaceous pelecypods] 68-71 [29-31. Tertiary pelecypods] 72-74 [32. Pennsylvanian and Cretaceous cephalopods] 76 [33. Cretaceous cephalopods] 77 [34. Fossil arthropods] 79 [35. Fossil starfishes, crinoids, and holothurian sclerites] 83 [36. Cretaceous echinoids] 84 [37. Primitive armored fish, shark teeth, and conodonts] 88 [38. Comparison of the dinosaurs] 90 [39. Comparison of Mesozoic flying and swimming reptiles] 91 [40. Pelycosaur, cotylosaur, and a primitive amphibian] 92 [41. Swimming reptiles] 93 [42. Phytosaur and flying dinosaurs] 94 [43. Skull of Phobosuchus, from Cretaceous of Trans-Pecos Texas] 96 [44. Saurischian dinosaurs] 98 [45. Ornithischian dinosaurs] 99 [46, 47. Cenozoic mammals] 101, 103 [48. Tertiary mammals] 105 [49. Cenozoic mammals] 107
Plate 1
GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE
ERA PERIOD EPOCH CHARACTERISTIC LIFE CENOZOIC “Recent Life” QUATERNARY 1 MILLION YEARS Recent Pleistocene TERTIARY 64 MILLION YEARS Pliocene Miocene Oligocene Eocene Paleocene MESOZOIC “Middle Life” CRETACEOUS 70 MILLION YEARS JURASSIC 45 MILLION YEARS TRIASSIC 50 MILLION YEARS PALEOZOIC “Ancient Life” PERMIAN 55 MILLION YEARS CARBONIFEROUS PENNSYLVANIAN 30 MILLION YEARS MISSISSIPPIAN 35 MILLION YEARS DEVONIAN 55 MILLION YEARS SILURIAN 20 MILLION YEARS ORDOVICIAN 75 MILLION YEARS CAMBRIAN 100 MILLION YEARS PRECAMBRIAN ERAS PROTEROZOIC ERA ARCHEOZOIC ERA APPROXIMATE AGE OF THE EARTH MORE THAN 3 BILLION 300 MILLION YEARS
Texas Fossils
An Amateur Collector’s Handbook
William H. Matthews III[1]