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I drive 8 hours with a friend to a location he remembers from his childhood as yielding a lot. Oh boy it did. 100% worth the drive. Lake Huron, among the agates, pyrite, yooperlite, has some extraordinary Devonian fossils. All fossils were collected from the beach of his family’s property except for the fenestelid bryozoan, which was found at a gas station on the way there. please enjoy this collection of gastropods, petoskey stones, various tabulate corals, crinoids, stromatoporoids, bivalves, Brachiopods, tenteculites, horn corals, an unidentified agatized fossil in jasper matrix, and a pudding stone I felt like showing off too. Thanks! I highly recommend the area.

Here are 2 more Halysites 'chain coral' that I found in the Silurian of Wisconsin. The rocks were soaked in diluted muriatic acid for several hours, to partially dissolve the matrix and reveal the chain corals.

I found this rock containing a Halysites 'chain coral' in the Silurian of Wisconsin. I soaked it in diluted muriatic acid for a few hours to partially dissolve the matrix and reveal the silicified coral fossil. Photos are before and after acid treatment.

I found this pretty little chain coral in southwest Michigan glacial drift a couple of days ago. I'm interested in whether it's possible to narrow the ID down between a Halysites species or another genus, like Quepora. My simplistic understanding is that coenenchymal tubules would indicate a Halysites species, so that's what I've been focusing on, although I know there are many other indicators, like size and shape of corallites. size of ranks, shape of luminae, structure of longitudinal tabulae, etc. This piece is probably too silicified to tell without thin sections, anyway, but I thought I'd throw the pics up, in case there's a coral person here who can help me interpret any diagnostic features they see. (The tape measure I tried to hold up in the last photo is cm) Many thanks!

I enjoy fossil hunting whenever I can. Looking for sites, roadcuts and field trips. So glad I found this group!

@Raggedy Man and his "phantom" wife, Laura, came up to fossil hunt for her 31st Birthday and what a hunt it was! I was busy the first day they were here with my little Airbnb Whispering Winds checking people in and out but they had a wonderful day hunting and Paul found a Bumastis trilobite - they are trilobite hunters. He will have to post his pictures. :-) On Saturday I had invited new fossil friend, Todd, from the Twin Cities to hunt with us. He had come on a paid hunt earlier (he left with 2 5 gallon pails of fossils that very long fossil hunting day) and we had bonded and this was a good opportunity for him to get some real fossil hunting done. I had heard about the "mythical" Seven Springs down a favorite sometimes dry wash and was on a mission. So off we went to hunt Orodovician fossils and Seven Springs! It was a lovely fall day in Minnesota in the 60s with leaves slowly turning brilliant colors and falling to cover the floor of the wash. The first part of the wash was not particularly fossiliferous but we had perhaps a mile or two to go to Seven Springs, so I was warning Todd not to pick up too many fossils. And yes that big plate was beautiful, but too heavy to carry out - that is what hammers are for... :-) The day was beautiful and each corner drew us around another. Paul and Laura had gone up the wash. And there were plates that just weren't going to come back with us. But the siren's call of more fossils to be found just kept us going... But this worn Fisherite showing the side structure was one I just had to have! We rounded one bend to see wild morning glories blooming against the gleaming white rocks of the Galena Formation. We were back in pretty far and hit a very fossilierous wall. I was on a mission and just had to keep going to find Seven Springs - was it real or not? Todd was happy to be left there. :-) The next corner of the wash called to me, and the next, and the next... I ran across the tracks of a large white tail and knew I must be near water. Finally! The first of Seven Springs! My mission had paid off! Seven Springs! So serene and beautiful! I had dropped my backpack back by Todd and so fossil hunting my way back was only what I could stuff into my fly fishing vest. When I finally got back, Paul and Laura had hiked down the wash to see what the old folks were up too. :-) Continued...