Jacob Boll, Robert T. Hill and the early history of vertebrate paleontology in Texas

Abstract

Jacob Boll discovered the rich terrestrial fauna of the Texas Permian redbeds. Robert T. Hill mapped and named the Cretaceous formations of north Texas. Both, but especially Boll, supplied fossils to E.D. Cope. Of the more than 30 taxa named by Cope for fossils collected by Boll, Eryops megacephalus stands out as the species illustrated in the logo of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Keywords:

• Texas
• Permian
• Cretaceous

Acknowledgements

Preparing this paper for one of us (LLJ) has been a pleasure, like seeing old friends. Jacobs lives on Boll Street in Dallas. He does fieldwork in the Cretaceous rocks mapped by Hill. He studied with George Gaylord Simpson. But most of all, this study kindled fond memories of Margaret and Ned Colbert from a time when he was a young paleontologist so welcomed and inspired by them.

 For access to the archives of the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University and for their assistance, we are grateful to Russell Martin, Joan Gosnell and Pamalla Anderson. At the AMNH, for access to collections and archival assistance, we thank Mark A. Norell, Carl M. Mehling, Susan Bell and Ruth O'Leary. At Harvard, we are grateful to Francine Flynn, Lawrence J. Flynn, Farish A. Jenkins, Jr. and Jessica Cundiff. At the National Geographic Society, thanks to John Francis and Renee Braden. Laura and Matthew Hornbach provided a copy of the letter from W.D. Matthew to Edith Bielharz, Boll's granddaughter, and access to Boll's Leopoldina diploma. Debbie Trueblood of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology polled past presidents and others regarding the origin of the SVP logo. Thanks to Robert Carroll, David Gillette, Jason A. Lillegraven, Priscilla McKenna, Richard Stucky and Hans-Dieter Sues, who responded to the question. Christopher J. Bell aided the bibliographic search and he and Jessica Harrison provided literature. James E. Brooks, Diana Vineyard, Michael J. Polcyn and Dale A. Winkler of SMU read the manuscript and provided helpful comments, as did Louis H. Taylor of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Special thanks to Matthew W. Colbert of the University of Texas at Austin for the photograph of his grandmother.