MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 831 



ons limestone on Kelley's Island and the recently opened strontia 

 cave on Put-in-Bay Island. These islands are also favorite pleas- 

 ure resorts for the whole neighborhood, and the trip was one of 

 great interest and enjoyment. Another party, on Saturday morn- 

 ing, went to points of special importance in the coal region of the 

 Hocking Valley, under the direction of ]\[r. R. M. Haseltine, chief 

 mine inspector of Ohio. At Corning the party went down into 

 Mine No. 8, owned by the Sunday Creek Coal Company, which 

 has recently been equipped with electric power generated by util- 

 izing the waste gas from neighboring gas-wells. This is said to 

 be the first mine in Ohio to improve this natural source of power. 

 At a depth of sixty-five feet the visiting party were taken by mine 

 cars to a point where a remarkably fine exposure has been made 

 of a carboniferous " forest," with upright trunks of Sigillaria and 

 associated forms of coal vegetation finely displayed. At a point 

 somewhat nearer the entrance, but at a lower level, lunch was 

 served by the com]Dany, in a chamber lighted by electricity, two 

 hundred feet underground and a mile from daylight! Another 

 mine was visited later, and the machinery and appliances exam- 

 ined; this was No. 16, at Hollister, owned by the Courtright Coal 

 Company. 



The third party went to Fort Ancient to examine the great 

 aboriginal earthworks at that place, owned by the State, and in 

 charge of the Ohio Archaeological Society. Here, on a hill widely 

 overlooking the Little Miami Valley, are some of the most exten- 

 sive prehistoric works in the country. The State has purchased 

 two hundred and eighty-seven acres, and of these about one hun- 

 dred acres are included within the walls. These ramparts, over- 

 grown with large trees, follow closely the contour of the hills, 

 and show that, whatever their age, there has been no change and 

 little erosion since they were built. Their form is very irregular, 

 consisting of two main areas — a northern one, called the " new 

 fort," rudely .square, and a southern one, called the " old fort," 

 rudely triangular — connected by a narrow portion, called the 

 " isthmus," with crescent-shaped transverse walls crossing it, and 

 high conical mounds at the entrance to the " old fort." From 

 the main gateway of the " new fort," starting from two mounds, 

 two parallel walls can be traced, exactly eastward, for half a mile 

 or more. Irregular as these works are, from the contour of the 

 hills and the course of the ravines that bound them, yet there is 

 also seen at times in their shaping a singular exactness of orienta- 

 tion that is striking and suggestive. Their use is problematical, 

 but they must have been defensive, although an enormous force 

 would be required to hold them, as their entire circumference is 



