STALKING UNICORNS: REDISCOVERING MISSING TYPES, ANCIENT QUARRIES, AND FORGOTTEN WORK

This is a chronicle of the ongoing search for the type specimens and source quarry of Gordia marina (Emmons), and the search for the original specimen of the first dinosaur footprints illustrated as a photograph by John Collins Warren in 1854. The early development of ichnology saw a blossoming of discovery and description in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Specimens were illustrated by hand by skilled observers, but the illustrations were sometimes guised by expectations and by the selective enhancement of features that the author thought were salient. This selectivity, coupled with the slower speed of communication in those early days of discovery often led to confusion as to the characters and identities of many ichnogenera. This fragmented development has resulted in multiple names for some ichnogenera and species. Evaluating the validity of competing claims is aided by the direct inspection of original types and sometimes the type localities. Thanks to many fine institutional collections, inspecting these is often a simple exercise in comparing existing type specimens. This is, unfortunately, not universal. Many of the early specimens were dispersed due to economi­­­­c circumstances, the death of the collector, the dissolution of the institution, or loss due to breakage, loans gone missing or institutional amnesia. The job of finding these missing specimens is undertaken by searches of the original descriptions, the notes and drafts of the author and subsequent authors, and the catalogues, contracts and notes of the holding institutions. Searches are conducted for the type localities, which may still be in existence and even preserved such as the protected sites in many countries, or which may be hidden in the mists of time, with quarry names lost and owners no longer in the vicinity, or hidden by the development of homes, commercial or institutional structures. These searches require reading the descriptions and notes, but also the contemporary land title records. Occasionally, in the pursuit of one specimen, we are lucky enough to discover another significant, forgotten specimen. Whether the specimen or quarry is found or remains lost, the hunt reveals facets of our science that have been long forgotten, and provides an intellectual, and sometimes physical challenge that is well worth the time spent in the pursuit.