On the revision of historical collections of three-dimensional models of foraminifers from the Paleontological Museum of St Petersburg State University

Abstract

Two collections of plaster models of foraminifera from the Paleontological Museum of St. Petersburg State University were studied. The first one (No. ПЛ ОФ 721) is represented by 95 objects. The time of its acquisition and authorship were unknown, some of the models were kept without labels, there was no catalog and records of its receipt. The collection has not been used for teaching or exposure in the museum. As it turned out the creator of the original collection was Academician Alcide d'Orbigny, who first described foraminifers as a separate group of animals in 1826 in the monograph “Tableau méthodique de la classe des Céphalopodes”. The 100 plaster foraminiferal models were made by him to illustrate the classification the new group. The original d'Orbigny’s collection is kept in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, and its copies were acquired by museums and universities in different countries. The copy of the d'Orbigny collection of the Paleontological Museum of St. Petersburg State University was probably made by the German trading company “Dr. F. Krantz, Rheinisches Mineralien-Kontor”. It was acquired by the St. Petersburg Imperial University for the Geological Cabinet (museum), which were created since 1870 by Professor A.A. Inostrantsev. Based on literary sources, the history of revisions of the d'Orbigny collection has been restored. That made it possible to correct errors in the museum labels, as well as to establish the original names of species depicted as models and bring them into line with the now accepted foraminiferal taxonomy. The second collection (No. ПЛ ОФ 75) is only a part (15 objects) of the collection of 100 models made by Václav Frič to illustrate foraminiferal classification scheme by the Austrian paleontologist August von Reuss. It was purchased for the Geological Cabinet of the Higher Women's (Bestuzhev) Courses and subsequently entered the Department of Paleontology, established at Petrograd University in 1919. As a result of the revision, the species affiliation of the species depicted as the models was established in accordance with the modern system of foraminifera.