Siphonophrentis and Heterophrentis Horn Coral Fossils

These horn coral fossils were seen at the New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library in June 2020. Accession numbers are WMI 50.46 and 50.013.

The one on the left is Siphonophrentis (O'Connell, 1914) and on the right Heterophrentis (Billings, 1875). They existed in the Devonian Period. I wonder if they were found at the Falls of the Ohio. The genus  was named by Dr. Marjorie O'Connell in 1914, click her name to read about her fascinating life.

Chasing a Metallic Chimera?

For some reason I am obsessed with figuring out the name of the fish on the top of David Dale Owen's (1807-1860) last laboratory building located in New Harmony, Indiana USA. I posted about in an earlier December 30, 2018 blog entry, What is this Fish?

My current theory is that is not a fossil fish at all but a metal artist's creation. It appears to be be a cross between a carp (the body) and a herring (the fins) thus some sort chimera.

While researching it some more, I came across some 1934 historic American buildings survey images in the Library of Congress of New Harmony, Indiana, USA. They show the top of the conical roof with just a metal blastoid fossil. The Archimedes bryozoan screw fossil and fish are missing. So maybe the top was added later thus the fish was not significant. See orange arrow in image below.

 

Historic American Buildings Survey, C. & Rapp, G. (1933) Dr. David Dale Owen House, Church Street State Highway 66, New Harmony, Posey County, IN. Indiana New Harmony Posey County, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/in0163/. Photographer Homer Fauntleroy April 7, 1934

Also the house has a little trilobite pattern at the top of some outside windows and doors. See the yellow arrows in the picture above and below.

Historic American Buildings Survey, C. & Rapp, G. (1933) Dr. David Dale Owen House, Church Street State Highway 66, New Harmony, Posey County, IN. Indiana New Harmony Posey County, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress,https://www.loc.gov/item/in0163/. Photographer Homer Fauntleroy April 7, 1934

The idea that the upper two fossils representations were added later after its 1859 completion was dashed by the entry in a book written by David Dale Owen's granddaughter, Caroline Dale Snedeker née Parke (March 3, 1871 – January 22, 1956). She gained some fame for writing fictional books for young people in the early 1900s.

One non-fiction book she wrote about New Harmony from stories told to her by her grandmother. It was called The Town of the Fearless and published in 1931. On page 348 she writes, "Also here is the New Laboratory, a charming building in English nineteenth-century style, which David Dale Owen built, and upon which he expended his artistic skill and loving fancy. On the spire of its little tower swings a geological fish as weather vane. Over its door is carved a trilobite. All this is in one plot of ground which is now a beautiful grove and a bird sanctuary."

So when the photos were taken in 1934 the weather vane must have been under repair. Of course, maybe the fish was changed out after being there for over 90 years.

The house has also been profiled by the Society of Architectural Historians at this page:

https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/01-129-0004-02

Maclurites Gastropod Fossil

This gastropod fossil was seen at the New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library in June 2020. It was identified as a Maclurites (Lesueur. 1818). The fossil dates to Middle Ordovician Period. Found in the Bobcaygeon Formation. It has a special significance because the fossil was named by naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur for geologist William Maclure. Both of these people lived at New Harmony in the 1820s.

Pecopteris Fern Fossil

As of June 2020, on display at the  New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library was this Pecopteris fern fossil. The fossil dates to Pennsylvanian Period. Specimen accession number WMI 300.7 and is part of the James Sampson collection. Fossil found in the Bond Formation at the Rush Creek locality of Posey County, Indiana, USA.

New Harmony was named by Robert Owen in 1825 after purchasing it from the Harmony Society who founded Harmony there in 1814. A number of earlier American geologists lived in this town including William McClure, Gerard Troost, David Dale Owen, F. B. Meek, E. T. Cox, B.F. Shumard, and Richard Owen. Naturalists Thomas Say and Charles-Alexandre Lesueur also lived in New Harmony. Thomas Say is buried near the center of the town.

Ceratites nodosus Ammonite Fossil

This ammonite fossil was seen at the New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library in June 2020. It was identified as a Ceratites nodosus (Bruguière. 1789). The fossil dates to Cretaceous Period. Specimen accession number WMI 309.7. No locality for this fossil was listed.

The Working Men's Institute (WMI) was created by geologist William Maclure in 1838. Its goal is to provide useful knowledge to those who work with their hands. At one time there were 160 institutes in Indiana and Illinois, only the New Harmony branch remains. The library is longest continuous operating one in the state of Indiana.

Melonechinus Sea Urchin Fossil

This fossil was seen at the New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library in June 2020. It was identified as a Melonechinus sp. (Meek & Worthen, 1861, p. 396) from St. Louis Limestone. The fossil dates to Mississippian Period (340-330 million years ago) in the Meramecian series. Limestone named by George Engelmann in Remarks on the St. Louis Limestone: American Journal of Science, series 2, volume 3, pages 119-120 (published 1847). Specimen accession number WMI 310.4.

There appears to be a second echinoid fossil on display as well but was not labeled. This one was more intact. The case label read "Mr. James Sampson, 1806-1890, was a saddler, a storekeeper and McClure agent. When he retired in 1858, he followed his fancy for collecting things, natural history mainly along the Wabash River and cut off river." The case is full of nice fossils but almost none of them are labeled. The fossil looked to be about the size of a grapefruit.

Archimedes Bryozoan Fossil with Holdfast

Here is a rare example of an Archimedes sp. bryozoan fossil with part of holdfast (root like structures) exposed. It was used to anchor it to the seabed. Another rare feature is the part of the netting or mesh structure that extended out into the water along the edge of the creature's screw shape. The name for water pump screw credited to the Greek engineer Achimedes of Syracuse (287-212 BC).

The naming of this genus is credited to Indiana's first state geologist David Dale Owen (1807-1860) to his publication, A Geological Reconnoisance and Survey of the State of Indiana in 1837 and 1838 in 1838. He later wrote an article for The American Journal of Science and Arts, Volumes 43-44 (1842) entitled Regarding Human Foot-Prints in Solid Limestone. He writes "characterized by a very remarkable fossil coralline, resembling the Retepora of Lin., but verticillated spirally like a continuous screw; described by Lesueur under the appropriate name of Archimedes.*" He writes that on page 19 with a foot note listing, "I am not sure that Lesueur ever published his description of this fossil; but I know that while he resided here (at New Harmony) he engraved a plate containing several views of it, with that intention. He considered it, I believe, a new genus; but it may be only a new species of Retepora; if so, most aptly entitled Retepora Archimedes."

Owen is referring to the French naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846). He lived at New Harmony Indiana from 1826-1837. He was good friends with Thomas Say who named the Pentremites blastoid fossil genus and is buried at New Harmony.

The fossil pictured above was part of the James Conkin collection. This bryozoan existed in the Mississippian Period, the genus died out in the Permian Period. No locality was listed with this fossil but I am guessing it was found in Indiana or Kentucky. Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

What is this Fish?

For a long while I have wanted to visit New Harmony, Indiana USA. On my list of things to see is a weather vane on top of a building built for Indiana's first state geologist David Dale Owen. As the it was the last of his buildings completed in his lifetime (1860 year of his death). The top room with a conical roof is a unique weather vane(?) that consists of replicas of three fossils: a fish, bryozoan, and blastoid.

Owen had a great idea with this weather vane. The fossil selection reflects his, Charles-Alexandre Lesueur and Thomas Say's contributions to paleontology. When I came across images of this in books or on-line I was always intrigued by its symbolism.

The bottom fossil is the re-creation of a stem section and Pentremite blastoid fossil. The Pentremite was name by Thomas Say in November 1820 (Observations on some Species of Zoophytes, Shells, &c., principally Fossil The American Journal of Science and Arts, VOL. II, No. 2, pages 34–45). See scan of this entire journal on Google Books.

The middle section is an Archimedes bryozoan fossil. It was named by David Dale Owen in the report entitled A Geological Reconnoisance and Survey of the State of Indiana in 1837 and 1838. He wrote,
"In the bed of Oil creek, then, on the road from Troy to Fredonia, the coal sandstone may be found resting on a reddish stratum of a somewhat arenaceous limestone, the uppermost member of this sub-carboniferous group, and characterized by a fossil, described by Lesueur under the name of Archimides, on account of its screw-like form. " 

It is interesting that Charles-Alexandre Lesueur named this fossil as it reminded him of a screw Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 BC) is credited with creating. Lesueur was a resident of New Harmony from 1826-1837, before moving back to France. Learn more about this at University of Evansville's Clark Kimberling web page on this subject.

The fish at the top is what caused me quite a bit of research and puzzlement as to what it is. I speculate that it might be Owen's interpretation of Macropetalichthys rapheidolabis. He and Joseph Granville Norwood, M.D, L.L.D. (Woodford County, Kentucky 12/20/1807-5/6/1895 Columbia, Missouri) described a fossil found in northwest Indiana in the American Journal of Science in an 1846 article, Description of a New Fossil Fish from the Paleozoic Rocks of Indiana pages 367-371.
The article describes the fossil specimen being found "fifteen miles N.W. of Madison, Jefferson county, Indiana, in the rock forming the bed of Lewis's creek, a branch of the Muskatatac River."
They also note the quarryman who found the fossil had damaged it as it was being extracted. Below are figures from their article of this fossil.

I have not found a rendering of what this complete fish looks like. The roof of the skull of the fish is at the Smithsonian catalog number USNM PAL 265273. They also have another 24 specimens of this genus listed in their database. The database for the American Museum of Natural History shows 37 specimens in that collection.

The problem is that is a Devonian Period armored fish in either the Order of Petalichthyids or Arthrodires. Neither those types of fish look at all like what is on the weather vane. Of course in the mid-1800s I am not sure there were enough specimens collected to know that the creature looked like. His 1846 article also mentions the fossil is similar to the Pterichthys cornutus and Chondropterygii. Neither of these fish look like what is depicted on the weather vane either.

So what if the fish model is the Devonian Period Cheirolepis trailli named in 1835 by Agassiz. This fossil was found in Scotland where Owen was born in 1807 and migrated from in 1827 [side note]. Owen and Agassiz both associated with paleobotanist Leo Lesquereux who worked with Agassiz in the 1840s on European peat bogs and Owen in the 1850s-1860s on fossil plants found in coal deposits. So they could have known of each other's work through him. Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) was also familiar with Lesueur from New Harmony as they were both fish experts. So it could be assumed that Owen was familiar with his work through that connection or that Agassiz knew of the geological work going on at New Harmony. In addition, Agassiz moved to the United States in 1846 so they were at least in the same country and possibly in the same academic circles.

Below are images of the Cheirolepis trailli fossil and its label at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It has similarities to the one on the weather vane. It and the Macropetalichthy both Devonian and the Cheirolepis is found more intact. Maybe it was used as a model for this fossil fish or I am just barking up the wrong weather vane with my guess. If anyone reading these knows the name of that fish please let me know...

New Harmony Indiana Visit

During this Christmas break, my father and I visited New Harmony, Indiana. It was a center for Indiana geology in the early 1800s. If you visit, I would suggest first visiting the Anthenem Visitor Center and look at their fossil display on the 2nd level. They have some quite nice fossils and plates from David Dale Owen's reports from the 1800s.

First a little history, the settlement was founded in 1814 by George Rapp (1757-1847) and his religious followers. After leaving Germany in 1804 and creating an earlier town called Harmonie in Pennsylvania, they sold it to Mennonites and used the proceeds to build Harmony, Indiana on the Wabash River. Once they built this town up, it was sold to Robert Owen for his Utopian experiment. They used the money from this transaction to create one last town called Economy, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh). They were known as the Harmony Society and one can learn more of their fascinating history on Wikipedia.

Robert Owen (1771-1858) was an industrialist from Britain that wanted to create a secular communitarian settlement in America. He enlisted the help of William Maclure (1763-1840) . They ended up failing for a lot of reasons which can be read about on Wikipedia. It did attract and produce a number of geologists for the midwestern United States. William Maclure considered the 'father of American geology' by publishing the first geological map of the country. David Dale Owen (1807-1860) first state geologist for Kentucky, Arkansas, and Indiana. Gerard Troost first state geologist for Tennessee and professor at College of Nashville. Thomas Say (1787-1834) a well published naturalist, he named the genus Pentremites of blastoid fossils.  Charles-Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1860), was a naturalist and artist who worked with Thomas Say. Richard Owen (1810-1890) was the second Indiana state geologist and first president of Purdue University.

We visited a number of other sites while there. A more modern structure is an open air church that is quite unique. There is also a maze not far away that has religious meaning. Its pattern can be seen on buildings and items around town.

David Dale Owen's 4th geological laboratory that is now a private residence. It is hard to get a good picture of it due to it is surrounded by walls and trees. I hope to have a later blog post about its weather vane. In the yard next to this house, is Thomas Says burial mound.

The building is also next to the Rapp Granary built in 1818, which later became another Owen geological laboratory.

David Dale Owen and his brother Roberts graves are located on the edge of town in Maple Hill Cemetery. The main stone is the center just has his name and under it the word GEOLOGIST.

The last building is the Working Men's Institute. The institution was created by Robert Maclure to allow common people to get knowledge. The building housed a library and museum. We ran out of time to visit but they have geological displays showing fossils and minerals.

Here is a video link to a 10 minute video that describes the Institute.

Megalonyx Sloth Bone

This Megalonyx jeffersonii claw is on display at the Science on the Edge: Radical Innovation in New Harmony display at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis. This specimen once belonged to Indiana State Geologist David Dale Owen. It was found around 1850 by Walter Alves near Henderson, Kentucky on the Ohio River shore line. If I understand correctly part of the specimen was destroyed in a fire later at a museum. The specimen shown in the picture belongs to the Indiana State Museum and is known as the Henderson Sloth. Learn more about its history on Professor Clark Kimberling's web page at the University of Evansville.

Learn more about this exhibit at my earlier post from April 2012.