106 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



side of Comox harbor, on a small tributary of tlie PaQtledge river, A 

 descending section is as follows: 



1. Brownish or drab-colored, slightly calcareous sandstone, the 

 grains of which are composed of quartz, feldspar and mica, with some 

 of a black substance supposed to be peroxide of manganese, the beds 

 being from one to five feet thick, 45 feet. 



2. Coal, black and shining, clean and free from shale, 4 feet 6 

 inches. 



3. Brownish-black argillaceous shale, and greenish-brown sand- 

 stone, interstratified with one another in thinish layers, the shale pre- 

 dominating, and both holding thin irregularly-distributed, lenticular 

 patches of coal, which ma}' constitute about one tenth of the mass, no 

 indications of roots penetrating the npper part of the bed were ob- 

 served, 15 feet. 



4. Coal, apparently of good qualitj^ 5 feet 4 inches. 



5. Brownish-gray or light drab sandstone, in beds of from one foot 

 to eighteen inches, 10 feet. 



6. Coal, apparently clean and of good quality, 6 feet. 



7. Brownish-gray or light drab sandstone interstratified with thin 

 la3^ers of black, soft, argillaceous shale, 3 feet. 



8. Coal, without observed impurities, 10 feet. 

 Total, 98 feet 10 inches. 



A section near Departure ba}' shows a thickness of 1,538 feet. 



Prof. E. D. Cope* described the Cretaceous along the line of the 

 Kansas Pacific Railroad, where it consists of the Dakota, Benton and 

 Niobrara Groups. The Dakota Group constitutes the blufi's at Salina, 

 one hundred and eighty-five miles west of the State line of Missouri, 

 and continues as far as Fort Harker, thirty-three miles farther west. 

 The}' are a coarse, brown sandstone, containing irregular concretions 

 of oxide of iron and numerous moUusks of marine origin. The Benton 

 Group appears at this point, containing large quantities of dicotyle- 

 donous leaves and other forms of land vegetation. It appears also at 

 Brookville, eighteen miles east, and at Bunker Hill, thirty-four miles 

 west of this Fort. The Niobrara Group forms the bluff's at Fort Hays, 

 seventy miles west of Fort Harker, and from this place to Fort Wal- 

 lace, one hundred and thirty-four miles beyond. This group consists 

 of two parts — a lower, of dark bluish calcareo-argillaceous character, 

 often thin-bedded; and an upper, of yellow and whitish chalk, 

 much more heavily bedded. Near Fort Hays the best section may be 

 seen at a point eighteen miles north on the Saline river. Here the 



•■= Hayden's 5th Rep. U. S..Geo. Sur. Terr. 



