On October 14th I attended the open house at the Collections and Research Facility of the Canadian Museum of Nature. I’m not sure what to consider as the highlight of the visit as there were many interesting things to see. I enjoyed holding samples of tektite and dinosaur coprolite, and found the explanations on lichen and how exhibits are prepared fascinating. The laboratory where they were preparing dinosaur fossils was also well worth the visit as were the trays of insects.
Michelle Coyne of the Geological Survey of Canada had on display two of Sir William Logan’s specimens showing Protichnites trackways. Below are photographs taken on October 14th of the specimens. The first photo shows a specimen with three trackways including the Protichnites septemnotatus trackway figured and described by Owen (1852).
The next photo shows two trackways figured and described by Owen (1852): the upper trackway is Protichnites alternans while the lower trackway is Protichnites lineatus.
The next photo is a closer view of the Protichnites alternans trackway.
The two specimens answer a question that I had concerning the inclusion of Owen’s numbering for the type specimens on Logan’s plates that accompanied Logan’s paper of 1852. I had wondered whether Owen’s numbering represented the exact location for the specimens pictured in Owen’s plates showing the type specimens, or whether the numbering merely identified the trackway from which Owen had selected a specimen. It is clear from the holotype specimens that Owen’s numbering on Logan’s plates correspond to the exact location for the specimens pictured in Owen’s plates which formed part of Owen’s paper from 1852.
Christopher P. Brett
Ottawa
Logan, W.E., 1852
On the Foot-prints occurring in the Potsdam Sandstone of Canada.
Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, volume 8, p. 199-213, Plates VI to VIII,
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109911#page/311/mode/1up
Owen, R., 1852
Description of the Impressions and Foot-prints of the Protichnites from the Potsdam Sandstone of Canada. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, volume 8, p. 214-225, Plates IX to XIV.A,
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109911#page/338/mode/1up
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