A Week in Quebec

[Kane]

Thanks all.  It truly was a trip to remember, no less so on account of the people I met.

 

@piranha Doh! I did have it written in my field notes as Raymondites, but I had a momentary lapse where I used the old nomenclature.  And, yes, the Anticosti material I got to see was jaw dropping!

[jpc]

Wow!  Just Wow!  The "Faint" plate is incredible.  I sent some time in Montreal a while back.  (there was a girlfriend involved, who is now a good friend).  I never knew this place existed.  Is there an actual public museum to go with it?  While I was there I did look into Anticosti trilobites, but it seems like a tough place to actually get to.  On the Extended Bucket List.   

[Northern Sharks]

I guess us Ontario collectors will all be making our way up to Quebec in order to collect any ordovician material. That was one heckuva successful trip Kane!!!!

[piranha]

11 minutes ago, Kane said:

Doh! I did have it written in my field notes as Raymondites, but I had a momentary lapse where I used the old nomenclature. 

 

 

But the name Bathyurus superbus was not changed. Raymondites was applied to 5 other species. The updated info is also found in Isotalo 2015.

[Kane]

5 minutes ago, jpc said:

Wow!  Just Wow!  The "Faint" plate is incredible.  I sent some time in Montreal a while back.  (there was a girlfriend involved, who is now a good friend).  I never knew this place existed.  Is there an actual public museum to go with it?  While I was there I did look into Anticosti trilobites, but it seems like a tough place to actually get to.  On the Extended Bucket List.   

You might remember Montreal being perpetually under construction. That hasn’t changed.  But it was also fun to get the rust off my French, although I would lapse more into the Quebecois dialect the longer I stayed. The museum itself is currently in search of a permanent venue, but it’s a long process. As for Anticosti, word is that new municipal laws may be restricting that.  

[Kane]

3 minutes ago, piranha said:

 

 

But the name Bathyurus superbus was not changed. Raymondites was applied to 5 other species. The updated info is also found in Isotalo 2015.

Oops! I meant the other way around. Obviously I’m still dizzy from being in the presence of all those sensational specimens!  My field notes say Bathyurus. I got tangled up with Raymondites somehow. 

[piranha]

Definitely Dizzying!  

[Huntonia]

What incredible fossils the museum has! 

Excellent finds Kane, the ceraurus and cryptolithus look great. 

[FossilDAWG]

What an amazing collection!     I'm glad there is a home for the best of the best of the private collections, other that "the auction site that must not be named".  However I'm left with a touch of sadness as it makes my own "collection" look like such a pile of road gravel.

 

Unfortunately (from my selfish point of view) Anticosti is about to be (or has been) designated a world heritage site and collection will be strictly forbidden.  Someone I know who has collected there for some time told me the locals have become very hostile.  I think in Canada we may be the last generation to be able to make a collection of personal finds, between progressively more and more restrictive laws and the lack of access to quarries, construction sites, and the fact that more and more sites are locked up in parks.

 

Still, it seems, there may be a few good spots available to those in the know.

 

Don

[RuMert]

Great trilobite place, everyone who is into trilobites can lose their mind

[Top Trilo]

44 minutes ago, RuMert said:

Great trilobite place, everyone who is into trilobites can lose their mind

Agreed, They have a great collection of awesome trilobites, love the plate of the ceraurus and the tracks. I also have a question that is somewhat on topic, What is plural for ceraurus?

[piranha]

31 minutes ago, Top Trilo said:

...What is plural for ceraurus?

 

 

Ceraurus.  Or, if you prefer, an assemblage of many ceraurids.

[Darktooth]

Great trip and report Kane!

[Kane]

3 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

 

Unfortunately (from my selfish point of view) Anticosti is about to be (or has been) designated a world heritage site and collection will be strictly forbidden.  Someone I know who has collected there for some time told me the locals have become very hostile.  I think in Canada we may be the last generation to be able to make a collection of personal finds, between progressively more and more restrictive laws and the lack of access to quarries, construction sites, and the fact that more and more sites are locked up in parks.

 

Still, it seems, there may be a few good spots available to those in the know.

 

Don

Truer words...

 

I began collecting again only after the heyday of the big Ontario quarries. We spend a lot more time prospecting for sites than just arriving for a dig at proven ones. It also means delving into much smaller outcrops, going farther to remote areas -- and when that happens costs escalate substantially. Despite the obvious headwinds of change that remove ever more possible sites, I cannot see myself giving up. I'm simply not ready or willing to put down the hammer yet. And, just sometimes, that persistence leads us to some spot that would have been neglected in those halcyon days when the big quarries were open, and from there make finds that could be new to science. 

 

Or I'm just hopelessly, optimistically stubborn.  

[FossilNerd]

Wow! What an adventure Kane! An epic collection to visit and awesome finds!

 

The trilobites are great, the crinoids, starfish, all of it! I don't know how you were able to come back.

 

 

 

[FossilDAWG]

I agree with you, and I have the same "never gonna give it up" attitude.  I just wonder about people who are just starting out.  We are motivated by the excitement of past great finds, hoping for a repeat.  As those finds become harder to come by,  I wonder if most newcomers will get bored and wander off to some other hobby.

 

Anyway seeing finds like that is inspirational for sure.

 

Don

 

 

[Ludwigia]

Hey Kane! All I can say is WOW!! on all accounts! This was obviously the trip of the year when not of the decade!

[Jeffrey P]

A truly remarkable trip. Great photos and text. Especially impressed with your echinoderm finds and lets not forget those gorgeous bivalves. Your visit to the Paleontological Society gives me yet one more excellent reason to visit Montreal again when things straighten out. GREAT REPORT and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

[Kane]

13 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

I agree with you, and I have the same "never gonna give it up" attitude.  I just wonder about people who are just starting out.  We are motivated by the excitement of past great finds, hoping for a repeat.  As those finds become harder to come by,  I wonder if most newcomers will get bored and wander off to some other hobby.

 

Anyway seeing finds like that is inspirational for sure.

 

Don

 

 

To some degree, many of us, be them veterans or newbies, are afflicted to lesser or greater extent to the availability heuristic (for instance, assuming there are more plane crashes or shark attacks because the media does not report the much more numerous times those don't occur). When looking at these great specimens in a collection, we sometimes forget those collectors spent decades and maybe these were the 1 out of 1,000 of their finds. But, perhaps the days of finding a slab of 100 Ceraurus cuddling up to a Hypodicranotus and a few lichids for good measure may well be behind us. Certainly, quarries increase the probability just on visible surfaces and volume of rock alone. When they are no longer accessible, it's much lower odds and we should scale our expectations appropriately.

 

But seeing the very best of many collections is both inspiring and misleading if we forget these are the culmination of a lifetime of collecting during the salad days.

 

It may be true that a good number of newbies will become frustrated and quit, which means less pressure on the fewer locations. I think only the very persistent will survive under these conditions. And those who do are definitely to be applauded for it, with each even minor find (compared to these stellar finds of the past!) equal to the time and effort of the old days.

[Kane]

Thanks @Ludwigia and @Jeffrey P! I couldn't have been happier with the "play it by ear" adventure! I should really do those bivalves justice with at home photos, as they are abundant in the lenticular shales of the Nicolet Fm. And you'll not likely encounter anyone more dedicated than Mario Cournoyer in putting together a premium paleo museum for Quebec.

 

I have a ton of prep for winter.

[Al Tahan]

Super impressive collection wow....awesome finds in the field as well! All these Ordovician critters really get me going . I’ll have to do an update on my recent New York Ordovician finds....still not as good as your finds Kane Lol

[herve]

Very,very very nice

[Kane]

Going through the flats. These are all "problem" Ceraurus -- missing a part here or there, but worth keeping for prep practice.

[Kane]

A few more Flexicalymene senaria. The very rough looking one is buried, but seems to have a bit of abraded surface, so a practice bug. The ventral isn't worth flipping, so I'll prep that as-is. The last one shows the best promise being almost entirely buried. A pity about the abraded spot on the axis.

[Kane]

This is an interesting piece. The smaller Gravicalymene is sitting on top of what I hope will be a complete bigger one underneath. The small one split its skin on both halves, but notice the faint oval in the impression side, making a kind of "follow the leader" piece. This will be a flip job.