Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
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Online Publication Date: 05 Nov 2007

James Hall and Fossil Corals

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Page Range: 99 – 105
DOI: 10.17704/eshi.6.1.71587105082520h5
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During his long career, James Hall named and described over 250 species and several genera of fossil corals, mostly of Middle Silurian to Middle Devonian age. Hall's principal coral works were published in 1843, 1877, 1882-84, and (with G. B. Simpson) 1887. Sporadic work on corals continued to 1898, the year of his death. In spite of shortcomings, his four main contributions provided the taxonomic base for much of the later work on Helderberg, Onondaga and Hamilton corals in New York and adjacent areas.

Beginning in 1868, George B. Simpson was one of Hall's many assistants. He began as illustrator, became a describer of corals and bryozoans, and ultimately co-author of the 1887 work. His own study of Paleozoic coral genera, based on thin section analyses, began the post-Hall era of coral work in eastern North America.

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Wright, J. D., 1973, That remarkable man Carl Ludwig Rominger, State Geologist. University of Michigan, Museum of Paleontology, Papers on Paleontology4, 148 p., illustr.
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