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So, I am formally stating my quest to find all of the echinoids (of Texas at least...let's not be silly) I live in Central Texas and we are blessed with an abundance of fossils. My first fossiking was in Cherry Creek, behind my house, in Austin. Although I did not really do much since those early days, now it has become my main hobby. I have collected a pretty dang nice collection of all kinds of Cretaceous creatures but echinoids are my favorite with ammonites a close second. I have decided to make it my goal to find all the species of Texas Echies I can find in my lifetime. So far I have hundreds of heart urchins, (Hemiaster, Pliotaxaster and Heteraster), a fair number of Loriolas and Salenias, a couple of Phymostomas and one very very worn Tetragramma. I have been making forays to Canyon Lake to find some of the more "unusual" urchins. These are my finds of the last couple of weeks. They are not great specimens but I am totally excited about them anyways. Hopefully I will eventually find some better quality ones, but hey, gotta start somewhere. For an avid amateur like myself (who is still trying to figure out how to recognize formations and zones and not having much luck at it) its exciting to stumble across something a bit different. Goniopygus and Pygopyrinas

Recently I purchased France sand dollars from @Coco. See this thread http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/92032-diverse-french-fossils-to-be-sold/ The 5 Parascutella_producta arrived Tuesday safe and sound with well designed packaging. One was a double and Coco added a sixth that she had polished on her club's water based buffing machine. In addition, a bonus of a little sea urchin Arbacina monilis was unexpected. I was greatly pleased for an excellent transaction. Polished Parascutella_producta Arbacina monilis Now I must figure out how to remove the sand-limestone like Coco did. I have a friend who has a vast collection of echinoderms and asked for advice. He uses no mechanical device beyond water and a knife and he has cleaned thousands of fossils, which he shows off at Fossil Club shows. It seems that there is only a light covering of sand_limestone so I will try his method on one of my 5. In Process. I also have a dremel and a compressor-air blaster which I have never used. Maybe I will get to them. My thanks to Coco, for beautiful new additions to my collection. I'll put the one she polished in a riker box and see if I can match the beauty on one of the others. Jack

Fellow fossil forum members I am in a predicament. I'm in need of air scribe and don't know what type I need to get. I have been working on Sea urchins from the Eastover Formation from Virginia that are concreated in hard sandstone with some of the Spines attached, and a sand dollar from the Piney Point formation with adhered matrix. These two things could be of scientific interest so I would like to prep them slightly so someone could actually see some diagnostic parts in order to give an identification. I Am looking to buy one that can do fine detail and not destroy the specimens but still remove the hard matrix relatively quick . I have already tried dental picks, Exacto knives, and even a dremel to remove the bulk matrix from the Sea Urchins but none have worked. I am looking for one that is under $500 and I have the air compresser already. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Two weeks ago I visited a very nice quarry near Gundelfingen (Danube) where you can find fossils from the white Jurassic ("Obere Felsenkalk"). From there you have a beautiful view and you can find nice fossils, for example sea urchins, brachiopods and crinoid stems. I was there about 4 hours and it took a time until I found my first sea urchin (fossil). They are rare there and you must have a healthy back and very good eyes ! Firstly some impressions of the quarry: In this topic I want to put my focus on the sea urchins but here are some brachiopods (Terebratula): Now the sea urchins; They are not that nice and often very shabby but I am happy to find those remains ! I think I have found more or less two types of echinoids: 1. Glypticus sulcatus: I have already find one on my first visit there: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/73558-my-newest-find/ They are mostly very small and its difficult to see them ! This time I found two: They are both about 1.5 cm long. Here is a detailed picture of the one on matrix: 2. Plegiocidaris I found only parts of those echinoids but I am nonetheless satisfied ! Here is the first one: It was quiete big but the fragment is 3.2 cm long. Another part:

hello all ppl. those are my echinoids from morocco:dickesicidaris turbeti . upper bajocian ,atlas mounatins ,morocco.