196 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 396. 



extremity of the tunnel twenty-three feet 

 from the surface above, as determined by a 

 ventilating shaft dug near by. The floor of 

 the tunnel is a heavy stratum of Carbonifer- 

 ous limestone six feet in thickness, that out- 

 crops at its mouth. The material excavated, 

 nearly uniform in all parts of the tunnel, is 

 river loess or alluvium, interspersed here and 

 there by limestone fragments. Some of these 

 limestone masses are of considerable size and 

 lie, for the most part, horizontally, as though 

 they had fallen from a neighboring clifE and 

 had been transported by the water. The 

 material also contains numerous snail and 

 some clam shells, the latter with the valves 

 united. The alluvium is so firm and indurated 

 that the tunnel, about eight feet in diameter, 

 has retained its shape without any protecting 

 props or walls, nor has there' been any caving 

 of its walls or roof. The skull and larger part 

 of the skeleton was found irregularly placed, 

 according to the testimony of the young men, 

 near the bottom of the tunnel, the mandible 

 separated some five or six feet. That the 

 skeleton was intrusive, had been buried, or its 

 position due to a creeping or sliding of the 

 material, is inconceivable and out of the ques- 

 tion. That there had been any deception on 

 the part of the finders is equally inconceivable. 

 I discovered fragments lying on the floor of 

 the tunnel near the place ascribed to the dis- 

 covery and picked up numerous other frag- 

 ments on the dump outside, including a 

 phalange and a complete os uncinatvmi. The 

 bones were found where they were reported 

 to be, and had been deposited there by the 

 water, at or near the time, of the person's 

 death. The cranium itself contains positive 

 evidence of its genuineness; not only is the 

 characteristic matrix yet firmly attached to 

 the bone, but indurated portions are included 

 in its sinuses. The specimen is unquestion- 

 ably a fossil and was found buried twenty- 

 three feet below the present surface in in- 

 durated alluvium that has never been dis- 

 turbed since its deposition. This alluvium is, 

 moreover, of water deposition, and not teolian, 

 or talus from the neighboring cliffs. Distinct 

 lines of stratification are observed, one of 

 theni running clearly the whole length of 



the tunnel a little above the horizon of the 

 skeleton. 



The age of the skeleton is evidently post- 

 glacial, but is nevertheless very great. Its 

 horizon is about twenty feet above the highest 

 water mark of the Missouri River and more 

 than fifty feet above its present bed. Add 

 to this at least twenty feet of river alluvium 

 covering the fossil and we have evidence of 

 a change of altitude in the Missouri River 

 since the deposition of the fossil of at least 

 forty and probably fifty feet. That is, the 

 skeleton was deposited during the period of 

 depression following the glacial epoch, during 

 the time of the so-called Equus beds, the time 

 of Elephas, Mastodon, extinct bisons, moose, 

 camels, llamas and peccaries. I see no other 

 possible conclusion to be drawn. I have ex- 

 amined the later Pleistocene deposits in Kan- 

 sas in many places and have fossils of this sub- 

 epoch from all parts of the state. I am confi- 

 dent that the Lansing man belongs in the same 

 fauna. 



Of the skull and other bones I will say little. 

 I trust they may receive the attention of some 

 professional ethnologist. Much credit is due 

 Mr. Long for his appreciation of the value of 

 the find, and for the care and infinite patience 

 with which he has restored the badly mutilated 

 cranium to its present satisfactory condition. 

 The cranium appears to be of normal capacity, 

 dolichocephalic, the forehead receding, the 

 supraorbital and especially the supraciliary 

 ridges prominent. 



S. W. WlLLISTON. 



Lawrence, Kansas, July 19, 1902. 



PALEONTOLOGY AT THE AMERICAN MU- 

 SEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



The American Museum of Natural History 

 has sent out four field parties, under the direc- 

 tion of Professor Osborn, for the collection of 

 fossil vertebrates. Two of these are at present 

 in Montana, one under Mr. Brown exploring 

 the Laramie for horned Dinosaurs, the other 

 under Dr. Matthew working farther west for 

 Upper Miocene mammals. A third party under 

 Mr. Granger has returned to the Como district 

 of Wyoming and is working two quarries in 

 that rich region; the Bone Cabin quarry is 



