GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 67 
FOSSIL TURTLE CAST FROM THE DAKOTA EPOCH. 
BY C. S. PARMENTER, BALDWIN. 
The fossil cast here represented by a plate was presented to Baker Uni- 
versity by Rev. C. K. Jones, an alumnus of Baker University, class of 1876. 
The specimen was given to Mr. Jones by a resident of Cloud county, whose name 
I have been unable to ascertain. Mr. Jones says, in a letter to myself: ‘‘The 
specimen was found south of Concordia, on a divide. The formation is red sand- 
stone, which outcrops in ledges and lies scattered all over the ground in places. 
The specimen was secured not far from the north line of Ottawa county, on one 
of the spurs facing south, just north of what is called the Bethel neighborhood, 
thus fixing without doubt the geological position of this fossil. 
The fossil cast is composed of the characteristic hard, red sandstone of the 
Dakota group. Its maximum length is eleven and one-half inches. Its maxi- 
mum width is nine inches. The dorsal aspect is very much more convex than 
the ventral and bears the well-defined impressions of the flattened portions of ten 
ribs. Along the line of the backbone there are the indentations of the proximal 
ends of fourteen ribs. A deep constriction is found four inches from one end and 
another evidently existed at the other. In the report of the United States Geo- 
logical Survey of the Territories, Vol. II, page 16, E. D. Cope, in speaking of the 
rocks of the Dakota epoch, says: ‘‘No vertebrate fossils have yet been obtained 
from them.’’ In the University of Kansas Geological Survey, Vol. IV, Doctor 
Williston says: ‘*‘ No vertebrate remains of any kind have so far been discovered 
either in Kansas or elsewhere, save impressions or casts. A record of footprints 
from this formation was first made by Prof. B. F. Mudge in 1866, and later one 
by Prof. F. H. Snow.” This fossil, then, makes the third evidence of vertebrate 
life found in the Dakota epoch and the first and only fossil cast showing some- 
thing of the structure of the animal. Itis therefore unique and of great interest 
to students of paleontology. 
THE DEEP WELL AT MADISON, KAN. 
BY F. W. BUSHONG, EMPORIA. 
Read before the Academy December 29, 1898. 
A company, with Mr. E. D. Martindale as its president, was organized at 
Madison, Kan., for the purpose of prospecting for gas or oil. By contract, Mr. 
C. L. Bloom, of Independence, Kan., agreed to drill either to the Mississippian 
limestone or to a depth of 2000 feet. 
Work was begun in June,,1898. On the 29th of October, after frequent but 
not serious. accidents and delays, a very hard rock, believed to belong to the 
Mississippian series, was reached at a depth of 189614 feet. 
The ordinary form of churn drill was used, and the measurements given be- 
low were made upon the drill rope, about half of them being made when the 
well was nearly filled with water. All measurements were carefully made, and 
are therefore correct within the limits of this method. 
The well is located in the bottom land on the south bank of the Verdigris 
river, less than one-fourth mile north of the Santa Fe depot at Madison, the top 
of the well being three feet lower than the railroad track at this depot, which, 
according to the railroad company’s engineer, is 1080 feet above sea-level. The 
top of the well is therefore 1077 feet above sea-level. 
