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Got our of work late today and hightailed it to an area that I wanted to check out. It started off slow, finding a butt here and a head there. I climbed higher to check the ground out above and found a single butt. I decided to drop back down just a bit and walked up onto a smorgasbord of trilobits in a section of formation that was fairly freshly exposed. Running out of time I dropped down a bit more and continued to find parts. Then it happened! I spotted it and quickly snatched it up hoping it was whole! I examined it and felt like a kid again I was so excited. I scanned about another 5 feet or so but had to leave. I know a good starting point now when I go back! I will post the photo of the whole, then add photos of today here in a bit. Thanks to everyone that gave me tips and encouraged me! I'm stoked! For it cleaned up and it is perfect!

Hey all, Does anyone have any good publications on differences between Flexicalymene meeki and retrosa? Assuming formation is unknown is there any way one could get a relatively positive ID on species?

Hello- I have a Placenticeras meeki specimen in my collection (see attached pic) and I'm curious to know if the iridescence of its shell can be improved in some way, given its condition- Thanks in advance, Fabio

We found a variety of nice fossils on a recent visit to the cliffs on the St Mary River in Southern Alberta. For early January in Canada, it was like a summer day. It took me about 15 minutes to find a 100 pound concretion and another 20 to dig it out. Then a great deal of grunting and groaning to get it up the cliff on my back. It turned out to be a gem ball. More pixs of the gem when I clean it. We also found a nice placenteris meeki suture fossil, lots of gem, and one interclare. The pictures show the cliff, uncovering the fossil and a few other shots of finds. other pixs follow

On Sunday, my family and I decided to head out for a fossil excursion to spend out day.@Uncle Siphuncle pointed out a good fossil site for me to find trilobites at a road cut in St. Leon, Indiana. Thanks a ton!! Unfortunately, as it had rained for quite a while that day, we had to wait until well after noon to reassure ourselves that we would not need to fossil hunt in the rain. Luckily, this also meant we got fresh picks before the other collectors! Here is the haul from the day: (I hope to bring back more over the course of the week!) Top to bottom: (1) Random pieces of the trilobite Isotelus (sp.). (2) The largest piece of trilobite that was found that day at the site. Although the piece is large, this is just a tiny, tiny fragment of the real trilobite! It is included at the bottom of image #1. (3) The best find of the day. It is a piece of the rear-half of the trilobite Flexicalymene (sp.). I do not know the specific specie, but the most abundant trilobite found at the site is Flexicalymene meeki, so it is safe to assume that the trilobite is F. meeki. After staring at the trilobite piece for some time, I extrapolate that it is approximately ~2/5ths of the trilobite which it once was. It is indeed very small! (4) Fossilized gastropods: (5) Fragments of orthoceras. These tend to be larger! ( (6) A handful of associated crinoid stem segments. The 2.4 cm one is quite long for a piece found detached from a matrix. I like it! —————————————— Overall, I think that our trip to the site had not met its maximum potential. We thoroughly examined every foot of ground that we covered- but this was only a short strip of land roughly 20 * 60 feet. Time was not available for a longer hunt. I estimate that we covered less than 5% (!) of the total fossiliferous area available to us that day— next time, I hope to find more than just ~1/3rd of a trilobite! -FS