THE RED BEDS BETWEEN WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS, 



AND LAS VEGAS, NEW MEXICO, IN RELATION TO 



THEIR VERTEBRATE FAUNA 



E. C. CASE 

 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 



During the summer of 19 12 the author traveled by wagon from 

 the north line of Oklahoma, south along the contact of the Pennsyl- 

 vanian limestones and the Red Beds, to near Purcell and then 

 west to the Wichita Mountains ; from there the party turned south 

 to Wichita Falls, Texas, and then west across the Staked Plains 

 and eastern New Mexico to Las Vegas. It is the portion of the 

 trip from Wichita Falls to Las Vegas that is described in this paper. 



Active work during recent years has resulted in abundant collec- 

 tions from the Permian or Permo-Carboniferous beds of Texas 

 and New Mexico, and we have now a fair knowledge of the most 

 common fossil vertebrates. New forms will undoubtedly be found 

 and additional information gained as to the habits and structure 

 of forms already partially known, but enough information is at 

 hand to warrant an attempt to determine the habitat and distri- 

 bution of the fauna as a whole. The work of the expedition was 

 directed toward determining (i) the limits, both geographical and 

 geological, of the vertebrate-bearing beds in Texas and New Mexico, 

 and (2) the character of the beds as reveahng information of the 

 habits and habitat of the creatures. 



Vertebrate fossils of Permian or Permo-Carboniferous age have 

 been found in Cowley County, southern Kansas, in a north-south 

 strip through central Oklahoma, in north-central Texas, and in 

 north-central New Mexico. In Kansas, fossils have been found in 

 only one locality and there only in the excavation of a well located 

 at the bottom of a ravine; no exposure of bone-bearing beds has 

 been found. In Oklahoma, fossils have been found in Kay, Grant, 

 Noble, and Logan counties, and south of the Wichita Mountains, 

 all in the Enid formation, but others will undoubtedly be found 



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