Hayden.] 292 [December. 



German Geological Society of Berlin ; A memoir of the An- 

 niversary of the Stoltzen System of Stenography; the Im- 

 perial Royal Geological and the Imperial Royal Geographi- 

 cal Societies at Vienna ; the Society of Naturalists of Mar- 

 hurg ; the Royal Observatory of Brussels; the Holland So- 

 ciety of Sciences at Harlem ; the Royal Academy of Science 

 of Belgium; Pamphlets on various subjects from A. Quetelet 

 and the Belgian Academy; from the Batavian Society of Ex- 

 perimental Philosophy ; the Netherland Legation ; the Royal 

 Irish Academy; the Royal Geological Society of Ireland; 

 the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester ; the 

 Royal Society of London, and the Chemical Society of Lon- 

 don ; the Dublin Quarterly Journal, and the Medical News 

 and Library of Philadelphia. 



Judge Sharswood announced the death of Prof. Vethake, 

 a member of the Society, which occurred on the 16th inst., 

 in the 76th year of his age. 



Dr. Hayden made some remarks iu regard to the geology of the 

 Missouri Valley, and exhibited a section of the Missouri River from 

 the mouth of the Platte River to Fort Benton, and several geological 

 maps of that region. 



He called the attention of the Society to the simplicity of the 

 structure of all this Prairie Country. The rocks of the different 

 great periods seemed to lie in basins, as is shown by the colored sec- 

 tion. By referring to the map, it will be seen that the coal-bearing 

 rocks are largely developed along the Missouri River, from a point 

 below the mouth of the Kansas River, at Leavenworth City, Nebraska 

 City, and other places ; but that by a slight dip towards the north- 

 west, they pass beneath the water-level of the river about 30 miles 

 above Council Bluffs. These rocks do not appear again in their west- 

 ward extension, until they are revealed by the upheaval of the Rocky 

 Mountains and their outliers, the Black Hills, &c. They are here ex- 

 posed, by upheaval, with a comparatively diminished thickness, vary- 

 ing from 200 to 1500 feet, forming a narrow belt or zone around the 

 granitic nucleus. Overlying the Carboniferous rocks along the 3Iis- 

 souri are a series of formations of Cretaceous age, which have been 

 separated into five divisions, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Beds of inter- 

 mediate age are wanting. These formations have also received 



