NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 11 



dip ; for the lowest bed of this section on Grasshopper creek, cannot be less 

 than 100 feet higher than the base of the section at Leavenworth city. 



Still we incline to the opinion that the strata near here, if not almost hori- 

 zontal, or merely undulating, have a general inclination towards the west, or 

 somewhat north of west, and that the exposure on Grasshopper creek, is com- 

 posed of much more modern beds than those near the landing at Leavenworth 

 city. At any rate we saw an exposure at Lawrence landing, on the Kan- 

 sas, composed of ledges of limestone, overlaid by clay, and having a decided 

 dip to the west or north of west, at a rate of not less than fifty feet to the mile. 

 This limestone consists of an upper hard gray layer, about three feet in thick- 

 ness, resting on a soft gray arenaceous bed, of which some one or two feet were 

 visible above the surface of the river when examined by us. In these beds we 

 saw Spirigera subtilita, Productus splendens? and Myalina subquadrata. Above 

 these, about eleven feet of gray laminated clay were exposed, the upper part of 

 the bed having a more yellowish tinge, and containing more arenaceous matter 

 than the lower. 



If these beds continue to rise at the same rate towards the east, they must of 

 course run out on the summit of the highest part of the country not far east of 

 Lawrence ; and the same inclination to the west or north west, would take them 

 far beneath the horizon of the base of the section seen on Grasshopper creek. 



Above this exposure at Lawrence landing, there is a space of about 160 feet 

 in which no outcrops were seen excepting some red and blue clays near the 

 upper part of the hills, back of the town. Just above these clays, some ledges 

 of gray limestone were seen, apparently altogether about eight feet in thick- 

 ness, containing Fusulina cylindrica, Spirigera subtilita, and Spirifer cameratus. 



West of Grasshopper creek, on both sides of the Kansas, the country becomes 

 lower near the river, but at a distance of some ten or twelve miles back, on the 

 north side, it appears to be nearly as elevated as on the east of Grasshopper 

 creek. Between this higher country and the Kansas, there is a plateau, appa- 

 rently elevated not more than sixty feet above the broad level prairie bottoms 

 along the river; while on the south of the Kansas, some five or six miles south 

 west of Topeka, there are some isolated hills apparently of the same elevation 

 as the high country north of the Kansas. 



At several places soon after crossing Grasshopper creek, we met with some 

 highly fossiliferous beds along the small streams, at an elevation of apparently 

 about eighty feet above the Kansas. Below we give a section of these beds 

 seen at a locality some eight miles south west of the point where the exposures 

 mentioned on Grasshopper creek were observed : 



Feet. 



1. Rough seams and layers of concretionary limestone of bluish tinge 

 with partings of clay, containing Terebr alula millepunctata, Spirigera subtilita, 

 Spirifer cameratus, S. Kenluckensis, Retzia Mormonii, Rhynchonella Uta, Pro- 

 ductus Norwoodii,P. splendens ?P. semireticulatus, P. Prattenianus, Orthisina, 

 similar to 0. umbraculum, also Fenestella and Chcetetes of undetermined 

 species 4 



2. Black shale, shading upwards gradually into laminated blue clay 2\ 



3. Hard blue or gray limestone, with Spirifer cameratus, Spirigera subtilita, 

 Myalina, Fecial, c 1 



4. Bluish gray soft clay, with seams of hard limestone 3 



5. Light gray, somewhat granular limestone with a few round grains, 

 and very small pebbles of quartz 2 



At another place on the south side of the Kansas, about twelve miles south 

 west of the point where the last section was seen, there is an abrupt bluff near 

 the old Baptist Mission, composed of the following beds in the descending 

 order : 



Feet, 



1. Slope, no rocks exposed 20 



2. Hard yellowish gray limestone, with fragments of fossils 4 



3. Slope, no rock exposed IS 



1859.] 



