1917.| NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 83 
MOLLUSCA OF THE SOUTHWESTERN STATES, VIII: THE BLACK RANGE, 
NEW MEXICO. : 
BY H. A. PILSBRY AND J. H. FERRISS. 
In the summer of 1915, beginning in the second week of August, 
we collected in the Black Range of New Mexico. Approaching 
from the west, by way of the Mimbres Valley and up Gallina Canyon, 
we reached the crest above the head of Silver Creek. Subsequent 
camps were made at intervals from Sawyer Peak, the southern end 
of the range, to Reed’s ranch on Black Canyon, our route being along 
the crest trail, with numerous short trips down the slopes, and a two- 
day trip to Kingston, in the eastern foothills. After September 12th 
Ferriss continued the exploration alone, in Morgan and Diamond 
Creeks on the main range, then eastward to Chloride, the Cuchillo 
Mountains and the San Mateo Mountains, west of San Marcial, 
in the southern edge of Socorro County. Travel was by pack train. 
Throughout the trip we had the services of an excellent packer, 
Teodoro Solis, a native of Chihuahua. 
The Black Range is on the boundary between Grant and Sierra 
Counties, about 40 miles north of Deming, New Mexico. In the 
north it forms part of the continental divide. The Mimbres River 
Valley on the west isolates the Black from the Mogollon Range and 
its outliers. The range is narrow and sharp, its flanks deeply fur- 
rowed, but without long spurs. Hillsboro Peak is 10,000 ft. high. 
Much of the crest trail is from 8,500 to slightly over 9,000 ft. elevation. 
Fine forest extends down nearly to the 7,000-foot contour. It 
has been well protected against fire and its remoteness has deterred 
the lumberman. The yellow pine, spruce and quaking asp are 
large and the ground well covered with forest mold. 
There seem to be limestone outcrops on all sides of Sawyer Peak. 
The scattered exposures of these ledges were traced from the south 
end of the range up the west side at between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, 
as far as Iron Creek at our Station 16. Limestone was not seen on 
that side of the range further north, on Black Canyon or Diamond 
Creek, where it was looked for down to about 6,000 feet. On the 
east side limestone appears in the foothills at intervals, as around 
Kingston and Hillsboro, at Hermosa, Chloride, and some distance 
further north. Otherwise the Black Range is of igneous or meta- 
