SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I931 



15 



base of the foothills (fig. 12). In fact, so much has been written of 

 this formation and its fossils that the literature is all out of propor- 

 tion to the extent of the collecting ground, which consists of only a 

 few widely scattered acres. 



Although Mr. Kinsey and his associates had collected in this lo- 

 cality the previous year, we were well repaid for the two days spent 

 here. More than 150 tooth-filled jaws of extinct rabbits, rodents, 

 msectivores, and lizards of the microfauna, a complete turtle shell, 

 and parts of two Mesohippus skulls rewarded our efforts. 





Fig. 13.— Collecting a skeleton of a large merycoidodont from the Miocene 

 near Canon Ferry, Mont. (Photograph by G. F. Sternberg.) 



Having prospected all available ground, we next investigated an 

 outcropping of Oligocene exposure along the Big Hole River near 

 Glenn Station some 80 or 90 miles southwest of Pipestone Springs. 

 According to information furnished by an old collector, important 

 specimens from this locality had been obtained years ago by Earl 

 Douglass. Again, however, we were disappointed not only by the 

 scarcity of fossils but also by the small extent of available collecting 

 ground. 



On June 17 we arrived at Canon Ferry, a locality on the head- 

 waters of the Missouri River that in years past has yielded important 



