THE OLDEST FOSSHS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21685, 20 January 1936, Page 8

THE OLDEST FOSSHS

EXHIBIT AT THE MHfltfj The oldest rocks presenrad In earth’s crust are without aqy \ of organisms. Fossils first epp» rocks which geologists refer;if Cambrian period, the lowest su vision of the great PMa<xie4ie;; The standard development 5 oTti brian rocks la in name— but rocks of the same apS much better fossils are now Jdtjß North America,' Bohemia, CM Queensland. They have not yep discovered in New Zealand. ; Cambrian fossils are all 3$ brates and two great ; brachlopods or lamp-shells, a|H i trilobites, an extinct group i tacea, are the most charactermSi Oils. Both groups are i actual fossils and by photognMi this Week’s special exhibit'|a| Canterbury Museum.

Occasionally it happens ibmm certain peculiar conditions oQfc tion, organisms without hgmjj ;may leave traces on the rnCMpM 'the most amazing- caseS'xnm geologists Is that of the BurgHni 'of Middle ’ Cambrian age Columbia. Here instead of thesi Cambrian life we find aa'lin of soft-bodied forms such aafn cea, worms, sea-cucumbers* apdi fish. The organisms are prmsa a film in which the detailed*! of delicate structures can fcesß by reflected light Two geologists, AdamSedgaiki Charles DOuttle Walcott, hav£|i noteworthy ‘contributions to Crai geology and palaeontology. Spin who founded the Cambrian 1835, was Woodwardian' phs™| the University Of Cambridge**! Walcott, who was secretary. Smithsonian Institution for collected and described the wgc preserved in the Burgess Photographs of both men lUfft of this exhibit