88 KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Thougli no person was actually assigned as geologist, Doctor H. C. 

 Yarrow, U. S. A., and Professor E. D. Cope investigated the geology 

 and paleontology of the Territory of New Mexico. The results obtained 

 were highly interesting. The cretaceous beds yielded many fine fossil 

 shells and teeth of extinct fishes, and the carboniferous limestone was 

 found to be equally rich iu specimens. A unique collection of a large 

 number of beautifully preserved invertebrate remains was procured from 

 the same formation. These are the deposits of a lake of a compara- 

 tively modern age, which abound in the remains of skeletons of the 

 animals that inhabited the surrounding laud. Mastodons of species 

 quite different from those frequently found in the Eastern States were 

 in abundance, while camels and horses had evidently existed in droves. 

 One of the most singular discoveries was that of a deer which did not" 

 shed its horns; and the fossil remains further indicate that at this time 

 several species of wild dogs existed to keep in check the herbivorous 

 animals, while a large vulture, allied to the turkey-buzzard, was prepared 

 to act as scavenger as occasion offered. In another locality crocodiles 

 and turtles were very numerous. Among the large remains were those 

 of the genus Bathmodon, which closely resembles the elephant in the feet 

 and legs, but the tapir and the bear in the character of the skull. They 

 were armed with formidable tusks, and their crania were very thick, as 

 if designed to repel attacks. 



In the line of archieology and ethnology were found the remains of 

 ancient human dwellings which stand in lines on the summits of rocky 

 crests, and on the more inaccessible and remote points of hills, with 

 precipices of several hundred feet in depth on one or more sides; from 

 these and burial places most interesting specimens of pottery, besides 

 crania and skeletons, were obtained. 



The mineralogical specimens collected have been carefully analyzed 

 by Doctor Oscar Loew in the laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Dr. H. C. Yarrow, in charge of the natural-history branch, with his 

 assistants, have added more largely than ever before to our knowledge 

 of the living fauna of large interior areas. Their results are soon to be 

 worked up by themselves and other specialists, and the specimens after- 

 wards deposited iu the National Museum at the Smithsonian Institution. 



As usual, a photographer accompanied the expedition, who this year 

 was successful in obtaining special photographs of ancient ruins, of 

 various Indian tribes, &c. 



While the parties operated in the field, the office-force remained en- 

 gaged in working up the results for publication. 



The publications during the past year of the surveys under the "War 

 Department have been : the Progress Eeport of 1872, a preliminary cata- 

 logue of plants gathered in 1871, 1872, and 1873, and a preliminary report 

 upon the ornithological specimens collected iu the same years ; the first 

 iu quarto, the two latter iu octavo. An advance edition of the Topo- 

 graphical Atlas and other physical sheets was also published. 



