The type section of the Basal Silty Member of the Survey Peak Formation spans the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary (North American usage) at Mount Wilson in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains. The zonal and subzonal terminology through the boundary interval developed in Texas and Oklahoma is applicable to the trilobite faunas recovered from the section. The oldest trilobites recovered in this study occur in the top of the underlying Mistaya Formation and are assigned to the Saukiella serotina Subzone of the Upper Cambrian Saukia Zone. Trilobites and brachiopods of the S. serotina and Eurekia apopsis Subzones of the Saukia Zone occur in the lower half of the Basal Silty Member; trilobites and brachiopods assigned to the Lower Ordovician Missisquoia Zone and the Symphysurina brevispicata Subzone of the Symphysurina Zone occur in the upper half of the Basal Silty Member. The S. brevispicata Subzone extends an unknown distance into the Putty Shale Member of the Survey Peak Formation.

The extinction horizons at the base of the Eurekia apopsis Subzone and at the base of the Missisquoia depressa Subzone (the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary) occur within the Basal Silty Member of the Survey Peak Formation, not at the formational contact with the underlying Mistaya Formation. This leaves hypotheses linking immigration of the replacement trilobite faunas to major lithofacies changes through the boundary interval as untenable. Critical review of the evidence for the extinctions at the end of the Ptychaspid Biomere suggests that they were caused by an invasion of the shelf region by cold, anoxic water.

Forty-seven taxa are illustrated and 18 of those which provide new taxonomic information are discussed. One new genus, Rampartaspis Loch, is described in addition to four new species: Eurekia plectocanthus Loch, Highgatella wilsoni Derby, Macronoda punctata Derby, and Rampartaspis dissimulosulcus Loch. The identifications of trilobites and brachiopods in this paper revise those of Aitken and Norford (1967) and Derby et al. (1972) and result in minor changes in the reported positions of the bases of the Missisquoia and Symphysurina Zones. Revision of the identification of some trilobites in Dean (1989) changes the biostratigraphic interpretation of the Basal Silty Member at Wilcox Pass, Albert, Canada.

The cardiarinide brachiopod Lambdarina glaphyra n. sp. from the upper Tournaisian (lower Carboniferous) rocks of Belgium is only the fourth described species in the genus. Ontogeny involves growth from a non-lobate, triangular, brephic stage of shell outline to distinct bilobation through neanic and adult stages, with maturity attained at a length of < 2 mm. Known occurrences of the new species are from within low-energy, mud-dominated proximal peri-reefal facies adjacent to Waulsortian buildups.

Muscle scars are described for the first time in the Ordovician bellerophontoidean gastropod Carinaropsis Hall. Silica replicas from the Cannon Limestone of Tennessee preserve a pair of muscle scars, with a single elongate scar located on each umbilico-lateral angulation of the shell interior more than half a whorl back from the apertural margin. The scars are similar in general shape and position to muscle scars described in Bellerophon de Montfort and the pleurotomarioidean Porcellia woodwardi (Sowerby). In addition to supporting the soft parts within the widely expanded shell, the characteristic internal septum of Carinaropsis probably facilitated clamping of the shell aperture against the substrate.

Species of the superfamily Acastacea constitute a minor element of North and South American Silurian trilobite faunas. Phacopidina? obsoleta (Ulrich and Delo) (Llandovery, Tennessee) provides the sole Silurian record of the “kloucekiine” grade (Acastacea s.l.); a lectotype is designated for this species. Acaste birminghamensis Norford (mid Llandovery, Alabama) lacks synapomorphies of post-Llandovery Acastidae s.s. (=Acastinae + “Acastavinae” + Asteropyginae), and is the basis for Llandovacaste n. gen. (Acastidae s.l.). A well-preserved sample of Andinacaste cf. A. ledgrandi Eldredge and Braniša from the Catavi Formation (Ludlow–Přídolí), Bolivia, displays apomorphic characters of the genal spines and hypostome shared with Devonian calmoniids. Coaptative structures, including vincular furrow/pits and “bifurcated” thoracic pleural tips, are documented for Andinacaste; similar enrollment morphologies arose in other acastomorph calmoniids. Poorly known Llandovery acastaceans from Paraguay and Venezuela may represent Andinacaste. Acaste zerinae n. sp. from the Pembroke Formation (Přídolí) of Maine is closely comparable to British late Wenlock A. downingiae (Murchison). The Australian Gedinnian acastine placed in Phacopinae indet. longisulcata (Shergold) is designated Acaste lokii n. sp.

The authors wish to correct an error on page 26 of the paper on “An illustrated key to the identification of unilocular genera of calcareous foraminifera” by Fred E. Clark and R. Timothy Patterson (Journal of Paleontology, 67:20–28).

Phylogenetic parsimony analysis was used to classify the Siegenian–Eifelian “Metacryphaeus group” of the family Calmoniidae. Thirty-eight exoskeletal characters for 16 taxa produced a shortest-length cladogram with a consistency index of 0.49. A classification based on retrieving the structure of this cladogram recognizes nine genera: Typhloniscus Salter, Plesioconvexa n. gen., Punillaspis Baldis and Longobucco, Eldredgeia n. gen., Clarkeaspis n. gen., Malvinocooperella n. gen., Wolfartaspis Cooper, Plesiomalvinella Lieberman, Edgecombe, and Eldredge (used to represent the malvinellid clade), and Metacryphaeus Reed. The malvinellid clade is most closely related to a revised monophyletic Metacryphaeus. Typhloniscus is the basal member of the “Metacryphaeus group,” and the monotypic Wolfartaspis is sister to the clade containing the malvinellids and Metacryphaeus. Six new species are diagnosed: Punillaspis n. sp. A, “Clarkeaspis” gouldi, Clarkeaspis padillaensis, Malvinocooperella pregiganteus, Metacryphaeus curvigena, and Metacryphaeus branisai. Primitively, this group has South African and Andean affinities, and its evolutionary history suggests rapid diversification. In addition, evolutionary patterns in this group, and the distribution of character reversals, call into question certain notions about the nature of adaptive radiations. The distributions of taxa may answer questions about the number of marine transgressive/regressive cycles in the Emsian–Eifelian of the Malvinokaffric Realm.

A diverse fauna of ostracodes comprising 21 species representing 20 genera are described from the Maxville Limestone in central Ohio. Eight new species are proposed—Roundyella incompta, Deloia spinula, Lokius morsei, Bairdia prolixa, Acratia prolata, Waylandella depresssa, Pseudobythocypris securis, and Paracavellina cooperi.

Oliganisus secunda (Croneis and Bristol), Glyptopleura costata (McCoy), and Geffenina praelonga Cooper are represented by tecnomorphs and heteromorphs. Specimens of Sansabella bradfieldi Coryell and Sohn show reversal of valve overlap.

The ostracode fauna indicates a Chesterian age for the Maxville Limestone.

Pegaster stichos n. gen. and sp., from the Cretaceous Chico Formation of Northern California, is the first-known fossil representative of the hitherto monogeneric Neomorphasterinae (Asteroidea: Asteriidae). Pegaster is morphologically similar to living Neomorphaster, again demonstrating the conservative evolution noted elsewhere among asteroids. Pegaster probably lived in a shallow shelf environment subject to strong storm action whereas Neomorphaster is known only from considerably greater depths; Pegaster provides a new example of an asteroid taxon excluded from shallower habitats through time.

The Early Cambrian helicoplacoid echinoderms occur in the Cordilleran Geosyncline of western North America in strata correlated with the Atdabanian Stage of Siberia. Several higher taxa are recognized on the basis of inferred differences in the water vascular system, test organization, and external morphology. These are subclass Polyplacida Durham, with genus Polyplacus Durham; subclass Helicoplacida Durham and Caster, with n. family Helicoplacidae, type genus Helicoplacus Durham and Caster (with tubefeet emerging between two contemporaneous ambulacral plates); n. family Westgardellidae, with type n. genus Westgardella, type species H. curtisi (Durham and Caster) (with tubefeet emerging between two sequential ambulacral plates). The genus Waucobella Durham is also referred to Westgardellidae. Helicoplacus gilberti Durham and Caster, H. everndeni Durham, H. casteri n. sp., H. guthi n. sp., H. sp. a, and H. sp. b are assigned to Helicoplacidae. The genus Westgardella includes H. firbyi Durham, 1967, and W. blancoensis n. sp., in addition to the type species. No evidence of flooring plates separating the radial water vessel from the interior of the test is recognized. The mouth is at the top of the test in the interpretation adopted herein and not lateral as inferred by others; therefore, the ambulacral system is not triradiate. Illustration identified as Helicoplacus curtisi by Paul and Smith includes misidentified plates and should not be referred to this species.

A collection of small crinoids and crinoid debris from the Ashgill (Rawtheyan?) of Cnwce, near St. Clears, Dyfed, southwest Wales includes numerous crowns of Aithriocrinus strahani n. gen. and sp. incertae familiae, an indeterminate 10–armed camerate(?) and an indeterminate multiple-armed camerate. Aithriocrinus strahani was previously considered to be a cincinnaticrinid, but it is undoubtedly dicyclic and therefore a cladid. This is the only diverse fauna of complete crinoids known from the Welsh Ashgill.

The monobathrid camerate Xenocrinus S. A. Miller is easily recognized from its disarticulated columnals, which are square in outline. Xenocrinus columnals are now recognized from three Hirnantian localities in Wales. Xenocrinus became extinct during the Hirnantian and not at the Rawtheyan–Hirnantian boundary, as has been suggested on the basis of crown material.

Species of the late Osagean and early Meramecian advanced cladid crinoid genera (suborder Poteriocrinina) Abrotocrinus, Aulocrinus, Cromyocrinus. Decadocrinus, Dinotocrinus, Holcocrinus, Hylodecrinus, Lanecrinus n. gen., Pachylocrinus, Parascytalocrinus n. gen., and Stinocrinus from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri are redescribed and redefined from study of type material and museum collections. Nomenclatural and systematic acts include the following: 1) Abrotocrinus cymosus Miller and Gurley, 1890a, is a valid species and not a synonym of A. coreyi (Meek and Worthen, 1869); 2) A. coreyi is a senior synonym of Poteriocrinus orestes Worthen, 1882; 3) Scaphiocrinus manus Miller and Gurley, 1890a, is assigned to Abrotocrinus; 4) Abrotocrinus granulatus n. sp. is described; 5) S. bellus Miller and Gurley, 1890a, is assigned to Aulocrinus and is a senior synonym of Aulocrinus agassizi Wachsmuth and Springer, 1897; 6) S. orbicularis Hall, 1861a, is assigned to Cromyocrinus; 7) P. latidactylus Worthen, 1882, is assigned to Dinotocrinus; 8) S. gibsoni White, 1878, is assigned to Hylodecrinus with P. nauvooensis Worthen, 1882, questionably placed in synonymy; 9) P. briareus Worthen, 1882, is assigned to Hylodecrinus and is a senior synonym of S. lacunosus Miller and Gurley, 1890a, S. boonvillensis Miller, 1891b, S. constrictus Miller, 1891a, and S. arrosus Miller and Gurley, 1893; 10) S. bonoensis Miller and Gurley, 1890a, is assigned to Hylodecrinus; 11) Hylodecrinus robustus n. sp. is described; 12) P. validus Worthen, 1882, is questionably assigned to Hylodecrinus; 13) Lanecrinus n. gen. is described and the following species are assigned to this new genus: S. halli Hall, 1861 a, S. depressus Meek and Worthen, 1870, P. milleri Wetherby, 1881, P. fountainensis Worthen, 1882, S. repertus Miller and Gurley, 1890a, and Ramulocrinus consectatus Strimple and Watkins, 1969; P. otterensis Worthen, 1882, is questionably assigned to Lanecrinus; 14) Lanecrinus depressus is the senior synonym of P. ulrichi Worthen in Miller, 1889, and S. maniformis Miller, 1892; 15) Lanecrinus repertus is the senior synonym of S. gorbyi Miller, 1891a; 16) P. asper Worthen, 1882, is assigned to Pachylocrinus and is a senior synonym of S. extensus Wachsmuth and Springer, 1886; 17) Parascytalocrinus n. gen. is described and the following species are assigned to this new genus: Poteriocrinus hamiltonensis Worthen, 1882, and Scytalocrinus validus Wachsmuth and Springer, 1897; 18) Poteriocrinites mcadamsi Meek and Worthen, 1873, is questionably placed in synonymy with Parascytalocrinus hamiltonensis; and 19) Poteriocrinus burketi Worthen, 1882, nomen dubium and Zeacrinus dubius Miller and Gurley, 1890a, are placed in Incertae Sedis.

Cromyocrinus orbicularis is the oldest species of its genus extending the range of the genus downward from the Upper to the Lower Mississippian.

Primitive euconodont elements from the Upper Cambrian of Sweden are investigated histologically and compared with co-occurring elements of paraconodonts. The proposed close relationship between the two groups is confirmed. Typical euconodont and paraconodont elements are bridged by intermediate forms. The ontogenetic development of the early euconodont elements shows striking similarities to the evolutionary development from paraconodonts to euconodonts, suggesting that evolution generally followed a peramorphic pattern (“recapitulation”). The conodont crown originated through extension of the growth lamellae around the whole element, accompanied by stronger mineralization. The first denticulation in Proconodontus arose when a jagged posterior edge in juvenile specimens was enhanced by the subsequent deposition of growth lamellae, a process comparable to the regeneration of broken tips. The most primitive euconodont elements probably erupted from the epithelium earlier in ontogeny than in more advanced forms. After the appearance of the phosphatic crown, conodont elements underwent a very rapid morphological differentiation. Cordylodus may have arisen from Proconodontus serratus.

Notidanodon lanceolatus Woodward is reported from Late Aptian strata of northern California. This specimen, the oldest fossil cow shark (Hexanchidae) in the New World, greatly extends the geographic distribution of this species and confirms the eurytopic distribution of this genus. We suggest that cow shark teeth evolve in an orderly sequence in which the mesial edge of the tooth is at first smooth (Notidanus muensteri), then serrate (Notidanus serratus, Notorynchus aptiensis), and finally dentate (Notidanodon lanceolatus).

Among the equid species named from the Cypress Hills Formation (Eocene to Miocene) of Saskatchewan, Mesohippus westoni and M. propinquus are documented from the early Chadronian Calf Creek local fauna, and M. westoni is also known from the earlier Southfork local fauna and from other Chadronian and Orellan deposits of western North America. Teeth possibly referable to Miohippus assiniboiensis are found in association with Whitneyan or early Arikareean assemblages. Miohippus grandis, not M. assiniboiensis, is the correct reference for larger Chadronian equids from Calf Creek and other local faunas. Archaeohippus stenolophus (new combination) is preserved in latest Arikareean or early Hemingfordian beds of the Cypress Hills, and occurs in faunal assemblages that show strong resemblances to the Runningwater assemblage of Nebraska.

A nearly complete and well-preserved skeleton of the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) and a cranial fragment of a short-faced bear (Arctodus simus) were recovered from fossil lake deposits at 2,740 m, near the crest of the Wasatch Plateau, central Utah. The mammoth bones are reliably dated to between 11,500 and 9,500 yr B.P. and may be associated with a late Paleoindian occupation at the site. The mammoth and bear are part of a high elevation Huntington Canyon megafauna including mastodon (Mammut americanum), horse (Equus sp.), and bison (Bison sp.). The mammoth was an old bull with considerable pathology in the vertebral column, ribs, and legs. Pollen, plant macrofossils, insects, and dung associated with the mammoth suggest this megafauna occupied an essentially modern environmental setting after deglaciation of the Wasatch plateau.

The Paleontological Society has instituted a series of special Golden Trilobite Awards to recognize excellence in paleontological publishing, including writing, editing, and book design. There are three regular categories of awards: popular or general public book, juvenile or young person's book, and systematic paleontologic monograph.

Although basic skeletal design tends to be rather stable within classes and lower level taxa of echinoderms, Echinodermata as a phylum shows an enormous range of symmetries, including forms that are amorphous, bilateral, and pentameral. Variations in symmetry within taxa are not simply curiosities, but have been used to infer modes of development and patterns of evolution of symmetry (Lane and Webster, 1967; Macurda, 1980; Galloway, 1990). During a recent morphometric study (Foote, 1991) involving the blastoid collections of the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology (UMMP), a specimen of the fissiculate blastoid species Timoroblastus coronatus was found with the azygous basal in the CD interray. This appears to represent the first reported case of basal inversion in this species, and increases the number of blastoid genera in which basal inversion is known to at least six.

The Outgoing Council met Sunday, October 25, 1992, in the Hyatt, Bluegrass Room A-B, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The meeting was called to order by President Kaesler at 7:00 PM. Present for the Outgoing Council Meeting were: Roger Kaesler, Tom Bolton, Rod Feldmann, Steve Stanley, June Ross, Don Wolberg, Don Steinker, Arnie Miller, Carl Koch, Steve Culver, and Scott Lidgard. President Kaesler asked for a motion to approve the agenda and June Ross so moved, Rod Feldmann seconded the motion, which passed without objection.

The responsibilities of Secretary of this Society bring with them an opportunity to interact with the membership and the public. It is a job that offers a unique perspective on the profession and a general perception of the profession. There is no doubt but that a high level of interest in paleontology is present “out there” in the real world and people are interested in fossils. I continue to receive many, many requests for our educational brochures and there has been a surprising number of requests for membership information in the Society by people for whom paleontology is an avocation.

In 1992, 100 articles and notes were published in Volume 66 of the Journal of Paleontology, as well as two Memoirs. Publication of articles and notes was supported by authors, grants, and institutions in the amount of approximately $34,000.