370 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Mr. Watson was said to have named tlie Rocky Mountain oalv 

 QnP7'rus polj/morphn. Mr. W. had simply adopted the earliest 

 name for it, Q. undulala Torr. ; also the reference of Finns con- 

 torta to P. Balfonriana was wrong. It should be P. aristata, 

 which name now gives place to the prior P. Balfouriana. 



November 18. 



Mr. Vaux, Vice-President, in the chair. 



Thirty-two members present. 



The following papei's were presented for publication : 



^ On the Homologies and Origin of the Types of Molar Teeth 



in Mammalia Educabilia." By E. D. Cope. "Contribution to 



the Ichthyology of Alaska." By E. D. Cope. 



Prof, Cope remarked that he had observed in the Rock^'- Moun- 

 tain region circles of stones arranged by human hands, in countries 

 not now inhabited b}' the Indians. One of these is in South-wes- 

 tern Wyoming near South Bitter Creek, inside the horseshoe of 

 the Mammotli Buttes. Tiie locality is a very barren one, being a 

 sage-brush plain of alkaline debris from the bad lands of the 

 Bridger Formation. It is nine miles from the nearest spring, 

 which is of indifferent quality, and being in a region where game 

 is very scarce, could hardly be regarded as a camping-ground. 

 The circle consists of three uninterrupted concentric rings close 

 tooether. the hole having a diameter of about fifteen feet. The 

 stones are of moderate size, composed of a dark silex, and evi- 

 dently- .derived from the drift material brought down from the 

 Uinta Mountains, which is found on the summits of the bad-land 

 mesas. Five or six miles from this place was found a flint factory 

 with numerous implements and cores. 



Two other circles were observed, in Colorado, about one hun- 

 dred miles east of Long's Peak, and about five miles from a spring 

 in a well grassed country. They are probably similar in character 

 to those described by Mr. lierthoud in the Proceedings of the 

 Academy (1872-46), as having been seen by him on Crow Creek, 

 Col. The circles are formed of a single row of stones each, are 

 situated close together, and are partially overgrown with grass. 

 The}^ lie in low ground behind a line of flat-topped bluft's, and 

 immediately opposite to a narrow gap or opening between two of 

 them. No implements were found, and he could form no opinion 

 as to their age. The locality is unsuitable for a camp, in conse- 

 quence of the remoteness of wood and water. The country is not 

 inhabited by Indians, the nearest, a temporary camp, for travelling 

 Cheyennes, Sioux, etc., being forty miles distant. 



