Rock'in The Point -

[tokashikibob]

Oh those magical Christmas mornings, the special moment

when you can look into a child’s face and see the happiness a special gift brings. It is too bad that this moment is only shared once a year across the globe.

Once a year only if your not part of the East Coast Fossil Club! You see folks, Me and Christina were able to see the expression on the face of the club's President

when he pulled out a couple of huge “Kellums” Noids from his bag. “These are so gosh darn nice! I can’t believe I was able to find these so close together.”

He was heard to remark. He went on to state; “Here and Castle Hayne, that’s the only two places on earth you can find these, and when this place is gone

can you imagine the value these will have!?” I can tell you what folks, I’m not a noid guy but those sure looked good in Dewayne’s hands, about as big as

a baseball those Noids were. That’s all I needed to stop looking for the elusive Ricky, I took off one way and Christina the other, while Dewayne’s day

was now to be completed at a more leisurely pace.

I am happy to report that I too, found me a couple of dem dere Kellum noids, even though they were quite a bit smaller, but at least I accomplished the

mission of finding one. The day was near perfect with overcast skies and pleasant temperatures and many new folks showed up some who drove across

several states to hunt the Point. As usual the newbies were handed very little, while the old vets like Dewayne & Gerald “Real Tooth” scored some nice

finds with ‘Real Tooth” scoring not one but two Rickys. However, one fella whose name I didn’t get; did score a rare sea urchin fossil, which flipped out

Dewayne and fellow Noid nut “Grandpa” Tom who drove from Texas to hit the Point and PCS. “Grandpa was a walking encyclopedia of Noid News

and facts! Hope you join the club Tom!

Thanks again to the folks at Martin Marietta for letting us have the opportunity to have fun in the sun!

Bob aka Makoboy

Visit My Website

[Auspex]

WooHoo! Great trip, great report!

Anyone else think that "'Noid Nut News" would be a great regular column on the Forum?

[Guest bmorefossil]

pretty cool finds

[grandpa]

However, one fella whose name I didn’t get; did score a rare sea urchin fossil, which flipped out Dewayne and fellow Noid nut “Grandpa” Tom who drove from Texas to hit the Point and PCS. “Grandpa was a walking encyclopedia of Noid News and facts! Hope you join the club Tom!

Bob aka Makoboy

Visit My Website

Bob,

It was great meeting you, Dewayne, Gerald, and fellow members of the EC Fossil club. I do plan on joining your group to keep up with you folks and your activities. (Somebody needs to keep an eye on y'all. )

I've given considerable thought to the regular urchin that the "unnamed fella" scored. It's hard to ID this one in the field since there are three regular urchins from there that are very similar. The best way to ID them for certain is to count the interamb plates - best done at 20X - 30X using a geologist scope. It was initially given a field ID of Cidarid pratti, this being the one that is most "commonly" found in the Castle Haynes. But, I've got 2 of these in my collection and it just didn't look like one to me. It seemed more flattened, less inflated, than the Cidarids I have. This leaves me to believe that it could be a Phyllacanthus sp. (either mitchellii or carolinesis).

I'm going into this detail because, if it does happen to be a Phyllacanthus and not a Cidarid, it should be looked at a lot more closely by someone in the scientific community. Kier (The Echinoids of the Middle Eocene . . . of North and South Carolina, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1980 - can be found on-line) says that only one complete specimen of each species of Phyllacanthus exists, and the exact location and formation for each is uncertain. Should this echinoid prove to be a Phyllacanthus, it would be an important find that would add a lot to our scientific knowledge, both in species description and in age/location. I'd urge someone in the club to contact the gentleman that found this specimen and encourage him to cantact the Smithsonian or some comprable organization and notify them of his find. Dewayne can most likely give him a good idea of which Genus he found as a first step.

BTW, I was also blown away by Dewayne's and others “Kellums”. He sure knew what he was doing and where to find these big bad boys. A big CONGRATS to him and others that scored these beauties.

Grandpa

[Frank Menser]

Nice finds!

[tokashikibob]

Bob,

It was great meeting you, Dewayne, Gerald, and fellow members of the EC Fossil club. I do plan on joining your group to keep up with you folks and your activities. (Somebody needs to keep an eye on y'all. )

I've given considerable thought to the regular urchin that the "unnamed fella" scored. It's hard to ID this one in the field since there are three regular urchins from there that are very similar. The best way to ID them for certain is to count the interamb plates - best done at 20X - 30X using a geologist scope. It was initially given a field ID of Cidarid pratti, this being the one that is most "commonly" found in the Castle Haynes. But, I've got 2 of these in my collection and it just didn't look like one to me. It seemed more flattened, less inflated, than the Cidarids I have. This leaves me to believe that it could be a Phyllacanthus sp. (either mitchellii or carolinesis).

I'm going into this detail because, if it does happen to be a Phyllacanthus and not a Cidarid, it should be looked at a lot more closely by someone in the scientific community. Kier (The Echinoids of the Middle Eocene . . . of North and South Carolina, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1980 - can be found on-line) says that only one complete specimen of each species of Phyllacanthus exists, and the exact location and formation for each is uncertain. Should this echinoid prove to be a Phyllacanthus, it would be an important find that would add a lot to our scientific knowledge, both in species description and in age/location. I'd urge someone in the club to contact the gentleman that found this specimen and encourage him to cantact the Smithsonian or some comprable organization and notify them of his find. Dewayne can most likely give him a good idea of which Genus he found as a first step.

BTW, I was also blown away by Dewayne's and others “Kellums”. He sure knew what he was doing and where to find these big bad boys. A big CONGRATS to him and others that scored these beauties.

Grandpa

Thanks for the reply Grandpa, it was great meeting you in the field! How did you do at PCS on Saturday? I will forward your letter to Dewayne and let him take the lead in the I.D. as he is sure to be thrilled to research such a rare find!