CHAPTER VIII 



MY FIRST EXPEDITION TO THE PER- 

 MI AN OF TEXAS, 1882 



Y first expedition to the Permian of Texas 

 was made in 1882, while I was in charge 

 of collecting parties for the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology of Harvard 

 University. 



I left the station at North Cambridge about the 

 fifteenth of December, and reached Dallas on the 

 twenty-first, with the address of A. R. Roessler ; but 

 I was told at the post-office that there was no such 

 man and no such address in the city. I had been 

 depending absolutely upon the information which I 

 hoped to receive from this Mr. Roessler, as I myself 

 had no more idea as to the whereabouts of the 

 Permian beds than a new-born child. Dr. Hayden 

 had written me to follow up Red River until I found 

 the red beds, which had colored the whole flood- 

 plain of the valley, and I had seen the red mud at 

 Texarkana as I entered the state; but it would take 

 years to explore the whole valley of that great 

 stream. I felt that I had come upon a wild-goose 



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