140 TRANS. OF THE ACAD. OF SCIENCE. 



Letters were read from 

 A. F. Bandelier, Esq., Highland, Ills., Oct. 13 & 18, I860, transmitting 

 fossil plants from the Coal Formation of Illinois; K. Akad. Wissensch. 

 Wien, Ap. 25 & June 25, 1860; Lit. & Philos. Soc. of Manchester, Eng., 

 May 30, 1860; Oberhessische Gesellschaft fur Nat. und Heilkunde 

 Giessen, June 20, 1860; K. K. zool.-bot. Gesellsch. Wien, 1860; Na- 

 turf. Gesellsch. des Osterlands zu Altenburg, May 29, i860 ; K. 

 Gesellsch. der Wiss. 7U Gcettingen, June 3, 1860; Dorpater Naturforsch. 

 Gesellsch. Dorpat, Jan. 1860; Naturforsch. Gesellsch. in Emden, May 

 20, I860,— severally acknowledging receipt of No. 3, Vol. I., of the Trans- 

 actions and transmitting publications in exchange. Also, from I. R. Isti- 

 tuto Veneto, Ap. 6, 1860; Prof. Director Franz Fcetterle, Wien, Mar. 

 26, 1860; Leeds Philos. & Lit. Soc, July 13, 1860; Mr. Senoner, 

 Vienna, June 17, 1860; E. A. Rossmiissler, Leipzig, Aug. 16,1860; K. 

 Akad. der Wissenschaft, Munchen, June 12, 1860 ; K. :-achzische Ge- 

 sellsch. der Wissenschaft. Leipzig, March 1, i860 ; P. es't Yale College, 

 Oct. 30, 1860, — severally acknowledging receipt of No. 3 of Transactions. 

 Also, from the Smithson. Inst. Washington, D. C, Oct. 10, 1860, trans- 

 mitting packages: and from E. Geo. Squier, Esq., New York, Oct. 22, 

 1860 ; C. H. Hitchcock, Esq., Amherst, Mass., Oct. 27, 1860 ; D. M. 

 Johnson, E«q., Coshocton, O., Oct. 27, 1860; Prof. A. Winchell, Ann 

 Arbor, Mich., and Prof. Jules Marcou, Boston, Mass., Oct. 15, I860,— 

 severally acknowledging their election as Correspondents. 



The Corresponding Secretary read extracts from a letter 

 addressed to him by Dr. B. F. Skumard, State Geologist of 

 Texas, dated Austin, Oct. 2, 1860, concerning the discovery 

 in Texas of dicotyledonous leaves in Cretaceous strata, and 

 the existence of an extensive Miocene Formation, equivalent 

 to the Bone beds of the Mauvaises Terres of Nebraska, as 

 follows : 



You will, perhaps, remember the statement in my paper on the Creta- 

 ceous Strata of Texas, (p. 589 of Transactions,) that although we had 

 not succeeded in finding dicotyledonous leaves in the Lower Creta- 

 ceous marls and sandstones of Texas, as has been done by Meek and 

 Hayden in Nebraska and Kansas, and Newberry in New Mexico, they 

 would probably be found in this position. I have now the pleasure of 

 informing you, that further explorations in Lamar County, near Red Riv- 

 er, have resulted in the discovery, by Dr. G. G. Shumard, of numerous 

 impressions of leaves in alternations of yellowish sandstones and bluish 

 shales, which are believed to occupy a position below the marly clay or 

 Red River Group of my section, and which we regard as being on a paral- 

 lel with the lower beds of No. 1 of the Nebraska Section. The collec- 

 tion made by Dr. G. G. Shumard contains several species of monocoty- 

 ledonous leaves, which appear to belong to the genera Salix, Ilex, Laarus, 

 etc. I am unable to determine positively the generic affinities of these 

 leaves for want of proper works of reference, but shall submit the col- 

 lection to a competent fossil botanist, and think they will be found analo- 

 gous to those discovered by Meek and Hayden at the base of their Ne- 

 braska Section. 



Not among the least important results of the survey is the discovery, in 

 Washington and adjoining counties, of an extensive development of Mio- 

 cene Tertiary Strata, referable to the age of the Miocene deposits of the 

 Mauvaises Terres of Nebraska, which have yielded such a wonderful pro- 

 fusion of extinct Mammalian and Chelonian remains. The Texan strata 

 consist of calcareous and silicious sandstones, and white, pinkish and 

 grayish silicious and calcareous marls. The calcareous beds are often 

 almost wholly composed of finely comminuted and water-worn shells, 



