Your shells are brachiopds James.  They are an extremely large group of
mostly ancient and extinct bivalved organisms, but they are not related to
molluscs at all.  There are hundreds of species and families in many shapes
and sizes.  They are sometimes called "lamp shells" because some of them
apparently look like ancient oil lamps.  There are a few modern examples.
The modern ones are not rare but no one collects them for some reason (except
us).  Fossil collectors, like my husband Joe has about 800 species from all
over the world.  If you want to know more about brachiopods, let me know and
we can send you some info.  Joe can probably tell you more when he gets the
computer.
Happy hunting
 
 
James M Cheshire wrote:
 
> Dear all, I have recently been doing some fossiling up here in
> Columbus, Ohio, and I need some help. The other day I broke open a rock
> with sponge fossils all over it, and inside was a lot of deeply grooved,
> clam looking
> things. I am not sure that they are clams, though. I have heard of an
> ancient race of shells called "Lamp shells" and although they look like
> bivalves, they are not related.
> I read that they existed in large numbers several million years ago, and
> that there are only a few species living in the deep parts of the worlds
> oceans today. Now, here is a more detailed discription of them:
>
> Cockel shaped, about 1/2" long,
> with deep grooves running vertically up the shell.
>
> I also found a little pecten in between two tree roots. Here is its
> discription:
>
> Wings equal, with fine vertical lines running up shell, about 1/2" long.
> Reddish brown.
>
> My uncle has a scanner; I will try and scan these, but since we are going
> back down to Florida in two days and my uncle lives in Ohio, I may not be
> able to.
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
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