Hayden.] 300 [January. 



Dr. Hayden made some remarks and observations in re- 

 gard to the lignite beds of the country on the upper tribu- 

 taries of the Missouri. 



He stated that he had recently received a number of interest- 

 ing letters from various parts of the far West, communicating im- 

 portant geological discoveries which he was anxious to have re- 

 corded in a scientific journal as soon as possible, that the attention 

 of other explorers might be directed to them. Although the great 

 Valley of the Missouri and its tributaries has already yielded so many 

 important facts to geological science, it does not seem even yet to 

 have given up half its wealth. 



1. Dr. Curry, an intelligent surgeon, now of Baltimore, Mary- 

 land, formerly of the United States Army, and stationed at Fort 

 Sully, on the Missouri River, writes as follows: "I received a letter 

 a few days ago from Fort Rice (Captain Irvine), who says, 'While in 

 charge of the herd a short time since, I discovered the bones of 

 some huge extinct Behemoth. The dimensions of the largest is as 

 follows: from head of femur to inner condyle, forty-two inches; 

 from head of femur to trochanter major, twenty inches; long axis 

 of femur, thirty-nine inches; short axis of femur, eight inches; from 

 condyle to condyle, fifteen inches. Other bones in vast quantities 

 were found, but were so crumbled by exposure to the elements, that 

 it was difficult to arrive at any correct conclusions in reference to 

 them; enough, however, is known, that this region once abounded 

 in tropical plants and animals, and the remains thereof will yet af- 

 ford vast treasures of geological interest to the student both of Eu- 

 rope and this country, and the day will come when the spectacled 

 antiquarian will make annual pilgrimages to the Bad Lands of Da- 

 cota.'" 



Fort Rice is located at the mouth of Cannon-ball River, a tribu- 

 tary of the Missouri, which rises in the prairie near the eastern 

 base of the Black Hills. The bones referred to were found on the 

 southern rim of the Great Lignite Basin, a district of the highest 

 interest. These bones are distributed in greater or less abundance 

 south and southwestward, even to the east base of the Black Hills. 

 In Dr. Hayden's explorations in former years, he discovered the 

 remains of several extinct animals along this southern rim of the 

 Lignite Basin, which have been described by Dr. Leidy in the Trans- 

 actions of the American Philosophical Society, 1859. The'first one 

 described. Dr. Leidy called Ischyrotheriimi antiquum, and says, "We 



