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Just got back from Hungry Hollow this afternoon, as usual it rained. Picked this up while I was there, not entirely sure what it is or if it is anything at all, but seemed too intriguing to leave behind. From the Hungry Hollow Formation.

Let me begin this topic by saying that I am notoriously bad for posting pictures. Perhaps it's one of those little jobs that always feels like it will take a lot more time and effort than it actually does, so it gets avoided constantly. Perhaps it's because I don't actually have photographs (decent quality ones) of most of my collection. But regardless, I'm terrible for posting pictures. So, this evening, with a bit of free time on my hands, I decided to take advantage of the knowledgeable folks here who have experience with the Arkona fauna and try and pin down some IDs on a few specimens. Going through my photo collections I came across a few photos of things that might be useful for identification purposes. So here's the first one (2011.4.18), currently identified as Platyaxum frondosum.

Made it for another dig in the South Pit of Hungry Hollow! I decided to check the bottom of the hills and found 2 rather small but beautiful enrolled trilobites. It's amazing to me that they even made it to the bottom as they would have had to avoid a bizzilion cracks to get there. I guess I was meant to find them. In the first photo you will see the smallest one circled on the top left. The second photo is him - isn't he cute?? That's pretty much my find for the day - nothing too spectacular but all the small stuff I am compelled to pick up and bring home with me. I don't know what it is about those crinoid sections that fascinate me so much. Especially the unusual ones with the little spikes and scalloped holes in the middle. It's still cool enough to enjoy the day and it has been dry enough for both pits, however it rained a lot yesterday so I imagine it will take a few more days to dry things up again. Once the really warm weather comes I may not be digging quite as much so I am taking advantage of this time now!

Need help - what is this? I mostly find horn coral and button corals at the south pit in Hungry Hollow, Ontario but this one is unique. Can someone tell me what it is? It is 7/8" long...

I was headed out to visit my sister, which would have been a right turn at the stop sign. Instead, Hungry Hollow was calling out to me and I headed out there (left turn) instead! To my delight, I found a number of small fossils that I LOVE and my first enrolled trilobite! At first I thought I had found a trilobite head and was pretty pleased with that, knowing that you don't often find complete ones. When I got it home I took a photo of it... and it looked like the tail of the trilobite. So thinking I was mistaken the first time, I turned it over and took another picture and lo and behold, I had both ends and the middle! That's when I realized I actually had the complete bug, just enrolled! I am excited beyond belief!! I am in LOVE with this little guy. So here is the rest of my find for today... I had a blast. Conditions there are pretty good, a little slippery but doable. I will go back later today or maybe tomorrow. Hope you enjoy these too!

Hello fellow members! My name is Lise MacFadden (sounds like "Leez"). I have been living in Arkona for about 10 years now and other members of my family have been here about twice as long. We used to come hunting for fossils just for fun, especially when some young friends would come to visit. It seemed like an exciting pass time for them and of course they always loved it as did I! I have not done much fossil hunting in the last 10 years I have lived here (maybe 4-5 times), but it seems lately I have become a little obsessed with fossils. I imagine it will wear off in time but for now, I am just so excited to find and identify fossils in this area. This forum has been especially helpful to me already, helping me to identify some of the fossils I have found already. Rock Glen park has some amazing specimens, however there is a restriction there and you can only keep one piece of fossil per person, and it can only be a fossil you find on the surface (no digging or poking around). I do enjoy making little piles of fossils on the rocks though, and it doesn't keep me from picking up the pieces I find interesting and adding to the piles, mainly because I don't want to find them a second time! Continuing on down the Ausable River to Hungry Hollow is where the real fun is! You can shovel, scoop, dig and poke at your heart's content. I could spend hours at the pits with my nose to the ground. I was just there at the South pit yesterday. I spent some time scaling the East and South walls of the pit... though it was soft and I couldn't sit or bend down to rest without getting really muddy. Because it was so soft, I had to keep moving and that was tiring. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure just to scope out what was there. I managed to get all the way up the hills, taking the time to plan my steps so I didn't get stuck! I found a bunch of crinoid stems and sections, some interesting coral bits and a few other things I cannot identify yet. There are some really great horn coral pieces there but I did not take any home with me. Next time I will grab a shovel and really dig in! Anyway, if you ever want to know what the weather is like here in the Arkona area, in case you're planning to come and dig, send me a private message and I'll be happy to give you the low down. So far, the North and South pit of Hungry Hollow is accessible and though soft, totally doable. That could change with the next rain but so far so good. I've had great support on this forum so far so thanks to everyone who has been so generous with their knowledge and patient with a newbie like me!

Found some great fossils yesterday. Found some great Mucrospirifers (arkonensis and thedforensis), my first ammonite - though small (1.5cm) and my first Cyrtina and a few things I cannot name. I'm sorry this photo is not better... should have also taken a photo of the underside. I was out hunting with my sister near Rock Glen Ontario and she found it so it's in her posession. Otherwise I would have taken better photos of it. I searched high and low for something similar. We found this on March 27, 2013 in the Ausable river near Rock Glen, Ontario. It appears to be fossilized skin. The underside seems bony with ridges. The closest thing I could find that resembled this texture was the outer flat section of a large trilobite. Any idea what this is?? (about 2 inches wide)

While going through my findings from my recent trip to Arkona I came across this thin sliver of Bryozoan. Closeups from both sides of the base Closeups from both sides of the rest of the colony I think it's a part of a species called Acrogenia prolifera (Hall), based on Amadeus Grabau's "Geology and Paleontology of Eighteen Mile Creek" (pg 175) and James Hall's "Paleontology of New York" Vol iv (pages 267-269; plate 63, fig 7-15), but it's not listed in the checklist of fossils found at Arkona. Has anyone else found Acrogenia prolifera at Arkona or anywhere else?

Hi all, It's been a while since I've posted but I recently took a trip up to Arkona for one last search before winter sets in. It was a chilly day with light rain in the morning but time flew by thanks to a surprise visit by Jschmo (Darrell). He's a great guy to collect with an very knowledgeable. He pointed out to me where the Microcyclus thedforensis level is in the Arkona Fm. and then I proceeded to find a couple dozen specimens. My find for the day is this crushed, 9.5mm long blastoid: Sorry for the lighting but as it's still raining outside from Sandy I took the pics with my Zorb Microscope camera. I'm not sure who it is so any suggestions are welcomed. -Dave