1866. J 275 [Hayden. 



Sioux River. It is about 130 miles north of Sioux City. The place 

 would hardly be noticed by any one who was not acquainted with the 

 celebrity of the Pipestone. It is located in a small ravine, with not 

 a tree or scarcely a bush to greet the eye. The Pipestone layer rests 

 upon a bed of gray quartzite, and is overlaid by about five feet of the 

 same rock. The Pipestone bed is about eleven inches in thickness, 

 but only about two and a quarter inches in thickness are wrought 

 into pipes. The remainder is too brittle or impure for use. Above 

 the gray quartzite is a vertical wall, about thirty feet, of variegated 

 quartzites, over which flows Pipestone Creek, a stream of pure, clear 

 water, forming a beautiful cascade. 



Dr. H. remarked that he did not think this locality had been 

 known to the Indians for a long period in the past. He had exam- 

 ined with considerable care the books treating of the ancient mounds 

 of the Mississippi Valley, and he could find no trace of this rock 

 among all the implements and ornaments that had been found there. 

 Not a stone implement has ever been found in the vicinity of the 

 quarry ; and he infers from this fact that it could not have been 

 known during the stone age. 



At Sioux Falls, on the Big Sioux River, there is a fine exhibition 

 of the variegated quartzites. There is a series of falls, six in num- 

 ber, with an aggregate descent of one hundred and ten feet, forming 

 the finest water-power yet observed in the West. 



The rocks at Sioux Falls and Pipestone Quarry are evidently of 

 the same age, geologically, and by their apparently metamorphic 

 character, lead the mind to the Azoic series. It is the opinion of 

 Prof. Hall, who made an extensive exploration in this region, that 

 they are of Huronian age. Some obscure casts of what appear to be 

 bivalve shells, at Sioux Falls, direct the attention to the newer fossil- 

 iferous rocks, Triassic possibly. 



Mr. Peale exhibited specimens of " Nidularia fascicularis," 

 a fungus found near the DehaAvare Water Gap, growing upon 

 the branches of decaying wood. 



Pending nominations Nos. 552, 553, 554, and 557 were 

 read. 



The Committee to Avhich was referred a paper, by Prof. 

 Cope, entitled "Synopsis of the Cyprinidoe of Pennsylvania," 

 reported in favor of its publication in the Transactions, which 

 was ordered accordingly. 



