Type specimens of fossils in the West Bohemian Museum in Plzen and in the Regional Museum of Dr. B. Horak in Rokycany. Part I - Trilobita.

Abstract

The paleontological collections of the West-Bohemian Museum in Plzei'l and of the Regional Museum of Dr. B. Horak in Rokycany concentrate a large amount of material from the Ordovician of the Barrandian area even including several type specimens. The City Museum in Plzen was founded in 1878. Owing to the activity of Cyril Purkyne, a geological department was established there in 1897. The main part oi its collection is the flora of the western Bohemian Carboniferous. The material of the Lower Paleozoic forms a small part of the collection. Best represented is the fauna of the Dobrotiva beds (Llandeilo). The Regional Museum of Dr. B. Horak in Rokycany was founded in 1904. Dr. B. Horak, its founder, placed emphasis on building of a regional paleontological collection. In this way, he wanted to create a centre where the material from the rich localities of the western part of the Paleozoic of the Barrandian area would be concentrated and available for scientific work. The first large collection of fossils from the wider vicinity of Rokycany was donated to the museum in 1905 by the local physician Dr. Antonln Kossler. In the same year, also the collection of the first curator Karel Jaros was donated to the museum. In 1918, the museum purchased a large collection of Karel Holub, Sr. It was a collection that was being assemble1 for years by Mr. Holub and his son, Karel Holub, Jr. It includes several type specilllens from the Klabava (Arenig) and Sarka beds (Llanvirn) of the Ordovician of the Barrandian area. During the period between 1920 and the end of World War II the paleontological collection stagnated. At the same time it was only Vojtech Kraft, a teacher, who donated a small amount of materiaL Only after World War II, there has been a regular growth of the museum's paleontological collection. The former Museum Society established the program of which was to promote systematic collecting in the localities of Lower Paleozoic in the vicinity of Rokycany with an aim to complete the paleontological collection of the Regional Museum in Rokycany.