88 



THE MUSEUM. 



had the rare good fortune to witness 

 the mother cat nursing — one kitten, 

 two young woodchucks and one young 

 red squirrel. 



Have any of our subscribers seen a 

 more singular occurrence? 



W. F. W. 



Cave Love. 



Gleanings from a Recent Report 

 OF THE U. S. Geological Survey 

 Prepared for the Quarterly 

 Bulletin of the Societe de 

 Speleologie, Paris, by Percy 

 Van Epps. 



A handsome volume just issued by 

 the United States Geological Survey 

 (Part n of the i8th annual report) has 

 several articles containing items of 

 much interest to lovers of the science 

 of speleology. 



The second paper in the volume is by 

 R. T. Hill and T. W. Vaughn, and is 

 entitled, "Geology of the Edwards Pla- 

 teau, and Rio Grande Plain adjacent to 

 Austin and San Antonio, Texas, with 

 reference to underground waters. " 

 Many fine full page plates accompany 

 this paper Two of these illustrate 

 cavern exteriors and a third gives a 

 beautiful view of the interior of Hill- 

 coat cave, Edwards county, Texas. 



Messrs. Hill and Vaughn speak as 

 follows of the caverns of the Edwards 

 Plateau, pp. 209-2 lo: "There are many 

 interesting caverns in the Edwards 

 Plateau, and inasmuch as their occur- 

 rence, together with the general ques- 

 tion of limestone solution has great 

 bearing upon the distribution of under- 

 ground water, it is essential that they 

 be briefly mentioned. They are of 

 three general types: (i) Small cavities 

 within individual limestone strata, giv- 

 ing them what is usually termed a hon- 

 eycombed structure; (2) open caverns 

 occurring in certain bluff faces along 

 the stream valleys; (3) underground 

 caverns of vast extent dissolved out of 

 many strata. One of the latter class 

 occurs in Edwards county, and may be 

 taken as a type. It is situated just 



west of the McKenzie trail, about six 

 miles northwest of Hillcoat's ranch. 

 The entrance is near the summit of an 

 oval, conical butte. The recesses ap- 

 parently undermining the whole of the 

 hill, are elongated chambers having 

 cross sections shaped like Norman 

 arches. The total depth from the en- 

 trance to the bottom, as far as ex- 

 plored by the writers, is over 140 feet. 

 The many chambers are lined with 

 stalactites and stalagmites of great 

 beauty and variety of form, and they 

 are nearly dry, only a little water be- 

 ing found at the lowest depths. The 

 method of rock solution here shown is 

 especially interesting to students of un- 

 derground water, as it gives an insight 

 into the related problems discussed in 

 later pages of this paper. Other cav- 

 erns of a similar nature exist in nearly 

 all the countreis embraced within the 

 area of the plateau, especially in Hays, 

 Blanco, Medina and Bexar counties. 



Another interesting paper in this 

 noble volume is by G. K. Gilbert "Re- 

 cent Earth Movements in the Great 

 Lake Region." Measurements of the 

 water level of the lakes, Superior, 

 Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, 

 through a course of years tend to show 

 quite indubitably that a slow tilting of 

 the entire region is taking place — that 

 the whole lake region is being slowly 

 tilted towards the southward. 



Vast consequences to man may result 

 in future time if this oroganic move- 

 ment be continued. Niagara Falls will 

 run dry. Unless a dam be erected to 

 prevent, the waters of Lake Michigan 

 will eventually find their way to the 

 Gulf of Mexico by the medium of the 

 Mississippi river, the Illinois river and 

 an existing channel carved by the out- 

 let of a glacial lake of Pleistocene 

 time. The summit of the channel is 

 now but eight feet above the mean level 

 of the lake. Gilbert says, (page 640): 

 "Evidently the first water to overflow 

 will be that of some high stage of the 

 lake, and the discharge may at first be 

 intermittent. Such high water dis- 

 charges will occur in 500 or 600 years. 



