54 Transactions of the Kansas 



was made through one end of this ellipse, and an irregularly laid stone wall was 

 found extending from the top of the mound to the bottom at this place. The par- 

 tial excavation made indicated that such a wall followed the elliptical line of pro- 

 jecting stones around the mound, inclosing a mass of earth within. Near the bottom 

 at the place opened was found, extending inward from the wall towards the center 

 of the mound, a vault-like opening. Tliis, however, may have resulted accidentally 

 by reason of the immethodical manner in which the wall was laid up. No human 

 remains or other relics were found in making this imperfect examination of this 

 mound. 



It was hoped that opportunity would admit of a more thorough examination of 

 the Fort Leavenworth mounds. Yet, while what has been done affords materials 

 for but little addition to the contributions of scientific knowledge brought in at the 

 meetings of this Academj'^, what is here presented ma}^ prove of service, as leading 

 to investigations yet to be made in the direction of determining to what extent 

 the works of the mound builders exist in Kansas. These mounds are, it is be- 

 lieved, the only ones yet seen in Kansas, of which any record has been made. 



ON THE DERMAL COVERING OF A MOSASAUROID 



REPTILE. 



{Liodon dynpelor Coi)e.) 

 By Prof. F. H. Snow, of the Uuiversitj' of Kansas. 



The geological section of the Kansas University scientific expedition for 1878, in 

 charge of Prof. B. F. Mudge and the writer, examined with care a portion of the 

 blue-gray shales and the yellow limestones along the Hackberry creek, in Gove 

 county, Kansas. These rocks belong to the Niobrara group of the cretaceous forma- 

 tion. The locality had been previouslj" visited by several parties of geological 

 explorers, who had obtained from it many valuable fossils, and it was hardly 

 expected that the gleanings from a field so thoroughly worked would contain any- 

 thing of unusual value. But the frosts and rains of a single year had exposed to 

 view many remains of fishes and saurians, and our labors were unexpectedly and 

 abundantly rewarded. In less than three weeks, 41 saurians, 117 fishes, and 6 

 pterodactyls (Pteranodonts) were discovered, many of them in almost perfect con- 

 dition, and all of them of sufficient value to justify their transportation for a 

 distance of 300 miles, to take their places in the cabinets of the University. 



The most valuable specimen was a saurian, found in the yellow limestone, by the 

 writer. A single vertebral bone was first observed, on June 17th, upon the blue 

 shale at the bottom of a narrow ravine. No further remains were discovered until 

 the following day, when a systematic search was made, in company with my assist- 

 ant, Mr. L. L. Dyche. We soon detected a second bone, this time one of the 

 phalanges, lying loosely upon the side of the ravine, several feet ab^ve the first 

 bone, and a little farther up the ravine. In a few moments more the head of a ver- 



