M.R. House, Professor of Geology, Department of Geology, The University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RX 24 April 1980
Dear Robert Blodgett,
Thank you for your letter which arrived yesterday. I had looked over your Alaskan specimens at more leisure and had been intending to write. Determinations seem to have sorted themselves out fairly well and are as follows:
79RB9 Pinacites jugleri (Roemer): one specimen. Foordites sp. juv.; two specimens.
79RB8 Pinacites sp. juv.: three specimens. Foordites cf. pinguior Chlupac and Turek: four specimens. Foordites sp. juv.: probably seven small and incomplete specimens.
The only change on the last letter is that both samples would appear to be 'upper Eifelian' and about the same age. I had puzzled over the Foordites group at first, but some show the sutures clearly and also some show the imperforate umbilicus. F. pinguoir is only known elsewhere from the Chotec Limestone of Czechoslovakia (where P. jugleri also occurs). The species only differs from the much-quoted F. occultus in being fatter. The specimens of Foordites are of interest in giving some information on the ontogeny of the species.
Incidentally, both these faunas should be younger than the Gryoceratites sp. level in the Funeral Range (Palaeontology, v. 6, p. 502, 507). What faunas I saw twenty years ago from the Hume included Givetian types (ref. your date), but I've not followed up name changes of formations to see how they affect the issue.
The determination of these European oddballs in Alaska should really be recorded and if it (House probably meant to write "at" instead of "it") some stage you would write a few paragraphs on setting, I could do the rest and make a brief joint paper, perhaps for the Can. Jl. ES. The ontogenetic information needs airing too. However leave it until you can see whether you can get more.
I have for many years regretted the way in which the non-carbonate facies in eastern N. Am. is neglected. It seems to me that there is a very full L. Dev. to U. Dev. ammonoid records there which can be pieced together from place to place. I hope one day someone will follow it up.
All good wishes,
Yours sincerly,
Michael House
P.s. If you have any coniconchines in the fauna they should be looked at too. I am writing to Chlupac to see if I can get information to dispose of the 'cf.' in F. cf. ping.