Article contents
Notes on Graphical Methods of Recording the Dimensions of Ammonites
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2009
Summary
(1) When the diameter of the umbilicus of an ammonite is plotted against the diameter of the whole shell, or the whorl-thickness plotted against the whorl-height, the curves obtained are very commonly straight lines for the greater part of their courses.
(2) If, as is usually the case, these lines do not pass through the origin, the formula for the ammonite spiral is of the form r + c = eβθ and not r = eβθ.
(3) If the straight lines do not pass through the origin, it is useless to express one dimension as a percentage of the other and compare these percentages in different shells.
(4) There is no way of foreseeing, before the measurements are made, whether the dimensions of a species will plot accurately on a single curve or whether they will show a considerable amount of scatter. If, however, they do fall accurately on a single curve, this fact is an argument for the validity of the species, and the curve is a useful aid in the identification of other specimens.
- Type
- Original Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1929
References
page 180 note 1 Buckman, S. S., Yorkshire Type Ammonites, vol. ii, 1913, p.viiiGoogle Scholar
page 182 note 1 Neaverson, E., Amm. Up. Kimm. Clay, Liverpool Univ. Press, 1925. p. 17 et seq.Google Scholar
page 182 note 2 Ilovaisky, D., Amm. Jur. Sup. du pays de Liapine, Ouv. Sect. Gèol. Soc. Imp. Amis de Sci. Nat. de Moscou, 1917.Google Scholar
page 182 note 3 Buckman, S. S., loc. cit., vol. v, 1924, P. 13 et seq.Google Scholar
page 183 note 1 This method is only useful when the two groups of shells can be separated by characters other than their dimensions, but it is only under these circumstances that the problem is likely to arise.
page 183 note 2 Fisher, R. A., Statistical Methods for Research Workers, p. 117.Google Scholar
page 183 note 3 The differences between these two groups will be fully dealt with in a future publication.
page 185 note 1 Brinkmann, R., “Statistisch-phylogenetische Untersuchungen an Ammoniten,” Zeits. für Ind. Abst. u. Vererbungslehre, Suppl. Bd. 1, 1928; p. 496;Google Scholar and, by the same author, “Statistisch-Biostratigraphische Untersuchungen an mitteljurassischen Ammoniten über Artbegriff und Stammesentwicklung,” Abh. d. Ges. d. Wiss. zu Göttingen, N.F., Bd. xiii, 3, 1929.Google Scholar
page 185 note 2 This is Neumann's “conchospiral”. See Thompson, D'Arcy W., On Growth and Form, p. 531 et seq., and references given tbere.Google Scholar
page 186 note 1 See note 2, p. 185.
- 5
- Cited by