276 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 922 



lower members of a series of beds which, in 

 the form, of an irregular syncline, constitute 

 the ridge known as Blueberry Mountain. The 

 best specimens have been taken from the 

 northern slope of Fitch Hill, the most north- 

 ern eminence of the mountain. Here the suc- 

 cession of strata^ is as follows: (1) A coral- 

 line limestone (30 to 50 feet thick)^ resting 

 unconformably upon an igneous foundation;* 

 (2) a calcareous slate (5 to 8 feet thick)' in 

 which are the impressions of braehiopods and 

 trilobites; (3) limestone, partly dolomitic; 



(4) coarse feldspathic sandstone (arkose) ; 



(5) a thick mass of regularly banded argil- 

 lites, passing upward into (6) a dark, pyriti- 

 ferous sandstone. Previous to last summer 

 no fossils had been found above the calcareous 

 slate.° 



In August, 1911, while engaged in geolog- 

 ical investigations which were undertaken 

 through the advice and generosity of Mr. E. 

 W. Sayles, of the Harvard Geological Depart- 

 ment, the writer discovered the distorted im- 

 pressions of braehiopods, probably Spirifer or 

 a related genus, in talus at the foot of the 

 " crags," a precipice of the dark sandstone ; 

 but the specimens were not well preserved. 

 In continuation of the same work, during the 

 present summer, we chanced upon a fossilifer- 

 ous sandy layer in the banded argillites, where 

 a north-south road crosses the ridge between 

 Blueberry Mountain and Bald Hill. This 

 spot is two and a half miles from the Fitch 

 Hill exposures of the same series, southwest- 

 ward along the strike. 



Soc. Am., Vol. 15, 1904, pp. 462, 479, 480. Also, 

 by the same author, "The Geology of Littleton, 

 New Hampshire, ' ' with an ' ' Article on a Trilobite 

 from Littleton and Notes on Other Fossils from 

 the Same Locality," by A. E. Lambert. Eeprint 

 from the "History of Littleton." Published by 

 the University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1905, p. 38. 



' Op. cit., 1904, p. 464, and op. cit., 1905, pp. 15, 

 34. 



= Op. cit., 1905, p. 34. 



* We shall publish a more detailed report on the 

 geology of Fitch Hill at a future date. 



' Op. cit., 1904, pp. 479, 481, and op. cit., 1905, 

 p. 31. 



Since the lower part of the banded argil- 

 lites is about 400 feet above the coralline 

 limestone (omitting two thick basic sills 

 which have been injected into the formation), 

 and since this new locality is at least 300 feet 

 above the base of the banded series, these fos- 

 sils occur stratigraphically 700 feet or more 

 above the Fitch Hill fossiliferous horizon. 



The impressions are chiefly of braehiopods. 

 They will be submitted for identification at 

 the close of the field season. Meanwhile we 

 shall make a more extended examination of 

 the argillites. 



Frederick H. Lahee 



Littleton, N. H., 

 August, 1912 



A PUZZLING PHOTOGRAPH 



To THE Editor op Science: In the issue of 

 Collier's Weelcly for August 3, under the cap- 

 tion of " A Prehistoric Peruvian Graveyard," 

 Grace Whitworth gives a halftone picture of 

 a remarkable ossuary which is stated to have 

 been taken from a structure discovered, by 

 some person unnamed, in a tropical jungle on 

 the TJeayali River in Peru. The structure is 

 stated to be a square of 200 feet enclosed by a 

 wall 25 feet high, built " apparently of red 

 clay," with no entrances, and along the top of 

 the wall at regular intervals it is ornamented 

 with vases made of the same material. In- 

 side was an immense mass of human bones 

 free from any superincumbent deposit and 

 mostly in an excellent state of preservation 

 (judged by the picture) and in some parts of 

 the enclosure heaped to a depth of 18 feet. 

 " Some entire skeletons were lying out 

 straight, while thousands of other skulls and 

 bones appeared to have been dragged about, 

 probably by buzzards." 



Allowing nine feet for the average depth of 

 the mass and one cubic foot for the space oc- 

 cupied by one skeleton, there should be a total 

 possibly amounting to 72,000 human beings 

 represented by the deposit. 



In an ordinary newspaper such a com- 

 munication might be allowed to pass un- 

 noticed with snake and fish stories, but in the 



