GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 131 



deposit such an accumulation of sandy material in this locality. The 

 scenery is somewhat changed also; the little stream which cuts through 

 the rocks flows through vertical walls of the sandstone one hundred to 

 two hundred feet high. 



Farther on toward Coino we see on our right hand the brick-red beds 

 which are so common along the slopes of the first range. At Como 

 Station the road runs through a curious anticlinal valley, the strata 

 inclining in opposite directions about northeast and southwest. The 

 southwest side displays the most complete series of the beds They 

 are composed for the most part of alternate layers of sands and some 

 harder beds of sandstone, but there are a few of these beds of marl, or 

 limestone, in which are found great quantities of fossil shells, Ostrea 

 Pentacrinus asteriscus and Belemnites densus. The oyster is a very 

 small one ; the star-fish is very beautiful but imperfect ; and the Belem- 

 nite or ancient cuttle-fish is more abundant and more characteristic than 

 the others. They are all of well-known Jurassic types. All around the 

 shores of the pretty little lake thousands of these sharp-pointed Belem- 

 nites have been gathered and given to travelers. These fossils are very 

 abundant in some parts of Europe, where they are called "Ladies' Fin- 

 gers," from their long, slender, symmetrical shape. These fragments 

 are all that remain of an animal that was probably quite large and 

 complicated in its structure, much like the cuttle-fish of our present 

 seas. It undoubtedly had the power to secrete a black liquid, a sort of 

 ink or sepia, which it could emit at pleasure, and thus provide a place 

 of concealment when pursued by foes. 



There are other attractions here, of which the traveler will be in- 

 formed long before he reaches the locality. The "fish with legs" are 

 the only inhabitants of the lake, and numbers of persons make it a 

 business to catch and sell them to travelers. During the summer sea- 

 son they congregate in great numbers in the shallow water among the 

 weeds and grass near the shore, and can be easily caught, but in cold 

 weather they retire to the deeper portions of the lake and are not seen 

 again until spring. These little animals are possessed of gills, and were 

 it not for the legs, would most nearly resemble a miniature cat-fish. 

 But when warm weather comes, a form closely resembling them, but 

 entirely destitute of gills, may be seen in the water swimming, or creep- 

 ing clumsily about on land. Sometimes they travel long distances and 

 are found in towns, near springs or wet places, usually one at a time, 

 while those with gills are never seen except in the alkaline lakes which 

 are so common all over the West. Professor O. C. Marsh, of Yale Col- 

 lege, Connecticut, an eminent naturalist, while on an excursion along 

 the line of the Union Pacific Eailroad two years ago, observed a num- 

 ber of the gilled forms or Sireclons, and taking them to New Haven, 

 watched their remarkable transformation into the more mature condi- 

 tion without gills. These animals belong to the family of Salamanders, 

 a group allied to the frogs, and the first form bears about the same re- 

 lation to the last that the tadpole does to the mature frog. Professor 

 Marsh's very interesting and detailed account of these singular animals 

 can be found in the "American Journal of Science" for November, 1868, 

 and from his article I have taken the following extracts : 



" The first indications of any change were observed in one of the smaller specimens, 

 about six inches in length; and the metamorphosis had apparently commenced during 

 the journey from Lake Como to New Haven, which lasted about a week. Small round 

 spots of dark brown were first noticed on the sides of the tail, and the color of the en- 

 tire animal gradually assumed a darker hue. The broad thin membrane along the 

 back, and above and below the tail, gradually began to diminish by absorption ; the 

 external branchial appendages soon became similarly affected, especially at the ends, 



