Protichnites, etc. on display at the Canadian Museum of Nature’s Collection and Research Facility

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

Things To Do on October 14th

Next Saturday will provide an opportunity for those in the Ottawa area to visit localities of geological interest throughout Ottawa and Gatineau and to visit the collections and research facility of the Canadian Museum of Nature.   

8th Annual Geoheritage Day in the Nation's Capital

On Saturday, October 14, 2017, from  10 am to 3 pm, volunteers from the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University and the Ottawa-Gatineau Geoheritage Project will be on hand at six locations to explain interesting features of the local geology.   The locations for this year are:

Champlain Bridge Stromatolites, Gatineau, Quebec
Champlain Lookout, Gatineau Park, Quebec
Hogs Back Falls, Prince of Wales Park, Ottawa
Cardinal Creek Karst, Orleans, Ontario
Pinhey Sand Dunes, Nepean, Ontario
Carleton University Earth Sciences Sample Preparation Laboratory

Map for 2017
https://earthsci.carleton.ca/sites/default/files/geoheritage-day-2017.pdf

Printable Site Information
https://earthsci.carleton.ca/sites/default/files/Site%20Information%20for%20Explore%20Geoheritage%20Day%202017.pdf
               
Brochure for 2017
https://earthsci.carleton.ca/sites/default/files/geoheritage-day-2017.pdf

Visit the Collections and Research Facility of the Canadian Museum of Nature

   
I expect that most people living in Eastern Ontario will have visited the Canadian Museum of Nature in downtown Ottawa.  What few people know is that the Canadian Museum of Nature operates a world class collections and research facility across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec. This research facility houses about 14.6 million specimens and artifacts, but for most of the year is closed to the public.  It is open to the public once a year for self-guided tour of the facility, and this year it is open on Saturday, October 14th from 10 am to 4 pm.

This is a chance to see minerals, meteorites and dinosaur bones; to learn how dinosaur fossils are prepared for study and display; to visit the Herbarium; to see specimens of parasites, crustaceans, mussels, clams, and insects; to visit the DNA lab, Heavy Wet lab and Conservation Lab; and to see special displays from the Bank of Canada Museum and the Geological Survey of Canada.

Details:
- Saturday, October 14, 2017
- 10 am to 4 pm
- free admission
- Canadian Museum of Nature - Natural Heritage Campus
   1740 Pink Road, Gatineau, Quebec
- Parking: Free on site and in the neighbourhood

Further details are available at:
http://nature.ca/en/plan-your-visit/what-see-do/whats/open-house

Below are photographs that I took while at the collections and research facility to look at Sir William Logan’s specimens of Protichnites trackways from Beauharnois with Dr. Robert MacNaughton, Michelle Coyne, Kieran Shepherd and Margaret Currie.

The second last photo shows Logan’s original specimen of Protichnities octo-notatus with a printout of Owen’s plate on top of the specimen.   The last photo shows two parts of the twelve foot specimen of Protichnites from Beauharnois which Sir William Logan took to London in 1852. 

 

Logan’s Worm Tracks: Gyrichnites gaspensis

The following specimen, which shows incredible burrowing, is also interesting.

Margaret Currie brought it down with a fork lift, noted that it lacked documentation and wondered if we had any information.  Dr. MacNaughton (from a drawing in Harrington’s biography of Logan) and Michelle Coyne were able to identify it as a specimen of annelid tracks Sir William Logan had collected in the Gaspé, a GSC type specimen that had been missing for a number of years.  Michelle Coyne was able to provide a reference to a paper by Whiteaves (1882) describing Logan’s specimens and naming the fossil Gyrichnites gaspensis.

Christopher Brett
Ottawa

Suggested Readings

Harrington, Bernard J., 1883
Life of Sir William E. Logan
John Wiley & Sons, New York, 432 pages
(The plate entitled ‘Supposed Worm-tracks from Gaspé Sandstone' is at page 161)
https://archive.org/details/lifeofsirwilliam00harr
https://archive.org/stream/lifeofsirwilliam00harr#page/161/mode/2up

J.F. Whiteaves, 1882
On Some Supposed Annelid-Tracks from the Gaspé Sandstones,
Transactions of the Royal Society Canada,  Section IV, pages 109-111, Pl.XI,
https://archive.org/stream/proceedingstrans11roya#page/108/mode/2up