Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo02amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL the lower side in a fine matrix whicli preserved them like a mould. The other individuals of the colony settled down on top of these and, not having a soft or plastic bed to receive and preserve them, were crushed out of shape and disarticulated, and their component plates were indiscriminately mixed up. The whole mass was cemented together under pressure, forming a slab,—a thin layer of limestone as we now find it,—with the Crinoid bodies preserved only on its lower side. The largest of these lenticular layers of limestone was about fifty feet long and twenty feet wide with a thickness of half an inch in the middle, thinning out on all sides to the thinness of cardboard. )\Iore than twelve hundred specimens in which more or less of a calyx was shown were obtained from this deposit. The arms of these Crinoids are so mingled in the slab that it was impossible to free any of them, but some of them have been traced to a distance of forty inches from the body to which they belong. The slab which the Museum has received from Mr. Springer shows distinctly at least sixty-five bodies, while fifteen or sixteen more can be made out under the covering of entangled arms. The body or calvx had thin walls, the plates of which were ap- parently connected by a sort of articulation or loose suture, so that it was more or less flexible and comparatively light in weight. All the calices have been flattened so that the opposite walls have been brought together in the form of a watch crystal. E. o. H. THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. )W0 letters which have been recently received by Professor Bickmore give very gratifying evidence of the spreading influence of the Department of Public Instruction under his control. Persons who are in the habit of attending the lectures at the Museum know the popularity of the courses by Professor Bick- more and appreciate the superb character of the views thrown on the screen, but the extent to which these lectures and views are being used in the public schools of the State and the demand 14
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