Lituites marshi Fossil

 

Lituites marshi (Hall, 1867) ammonoid fossil found in Louisville, Kentucky USA. It dates to the Silurian Period and was probably found in the Louisville Limestone. This image is from the 1889 Kentucky Fossil Shells by Henry Nettelroth in Plate XXX figure 1. "Found in the Niagara rocks of the quarries east of the city of Louisville, where fragments of this shell are not rare, but fair specimens are not often found. In the speciment illustrated on plate 30, both termini of the shell are missing; it has preserved more than three complete volutions. The vacant central space indicates that, probably, two full volutions are obliterated there at the apex. How much there is destroyed at the other end can not be acertained, but that there is a large part of a volution missing can not be doubted. Thus it appears that the illustrated specimen, in its perfect condition, had six full volutions." Professor James Hall (1811-1898) named this species in honor of Professor Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-1899).

This fossil is stored at the Smithsonian and was assigned catalog number: USNM PAL 51378.

Here is a posting from 2009 of one of these fossils found in Louisville:

https://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2009/05/silurian-coiled-cephalopod-lituites.html

Halysites catenularia Chain Coral Fossil

 

This image shows a Halysites catenularia (Linnaeus, 1767) chain coral fossil. It dates to the Silurian Period and was found Kentucky USA. While I am guessing it was probably found at the Falls of the Ohio. It was displayed at Muséum National D'Historie Naturelle Jardin Des Plantes Paléontologie et Anatomie Comparée, Paris, France. Image taken August 2009.

The side view is has some green coloration maybe from moss from the Ohio River. It was from the Jules Marcou (1824-1898) collection. Marcou was born and educated in France and worked as a geologist for the Jardin des Plantes during the late 1840s. He traveled on expeditions in the United States during this time and in the early 1850s. So he could have acquired this fossil then. He later settled in Massachusetts USA, became a citizen and died there.

Favosites goldfussi Coral Fossil

This image shows a Favosites goldfussi (Larmarck, 1816) coral fossil. It dates to the Devonian Period and was found at Gerolstein Germany. It was displayed at Muséum National D'Historie Naturelle Jardin Des Plantes Paléontologie et Anatomie Comparée, Paris, France.  Image taken August 2009.