Apbil 13, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



583 



plosion must have occiirred not far from 

 Tribune, Greeley County, Kansas, since the 

 interval between light and sound there was 

 but a few seconds. The fall of stones, how- 

 ever, occurred at Modoc, about forty miles 

 further east, the interval between light and 

 sound there being between two and three 

 minutes. It would appear, therefore, that 

 after the explosion the stones traveled about 

 forty miles before reaching the earth, at a 

 velocity of about one third of a mile per 

 second. Up to date thirteen fragments and 

 individuals have been found, the heaviest 

 having weighed eleven pounds. The other 

 individuals and fragments found range in 

 weight from seven pounds to a few ounces. 

 The area over which they were scattered is 

 one of about seven miles in length by two 

 miles in width, extending nearly due east 

 and west, the larger stones being found at 

 the east end of the area. The principle 

 that the smaller stones would fall first is 

 thus corroborated. The stones appear to be 

 of the type of white or gray chondrites 

 and to have the usual composition of meteor- 

 ites of this character. They are coated, for 

 the most part, with a thick, black crust, al- 

 though considerable breaking up took place 

 in the atmosphere, so that some fragments 

 have only a secondary crust or none at all. 

 The total weight of individuals thus far col- 

 lected is thirty-two pounds. 



Six distinct meteorite localities are already 

 known in western Kansas. Of these, one, 

 Saline, Sheridan County, is an observed fall 

 which took place at 9:30 p.m., November 15, 

 1898. That another fall should occur so soon 

 within an area previously so favored seems to 

 indicate some combination of forces relative 

 to the area. 



Oliver C. Fabrington. 



Field Museum of Natural History. 



CAPTURE OF THE WEST INDIAN SEAL (mONACHUS 

 TROPICALIS) AT KEY WEST, FLORIDA. 



On February 25, 1906, a party of fisherman 

 killed a West Indian seal about five miles 

 from Key West, where the specimen is now 

 on exhibition. 



It is a female, nine feet long and appar- 



ently quite old. The teeth are worn flat, the 

 canines being worn down to the same level 

 as the other teeth. 



When discovered the animal was promptly 

 harpooned and then killed with a shotgun. No 

 one in Key West had succeeded in identifying 

 it, and the exhibitors called it a sea-lion, until 

 my arrival. It is, I believe, about thirty years 

 since Monachus tropicalis was last seen in the 

 Florida region. Mr. H. L. Ward collected a 

 few specimens on the Triangle Islands in the 

 Bay of Campeachy just twenty years ago. It 

 has practically disappeared from the West 

 Indian region. 



Two specimens have been exhibited alive at 

 the New York Aquarium, one of them from 

 189Y to 1903. These were also captured at 

 the Triangles. 



The Key West specimen is for sale and al- 

 though badly mounted, the skin is apparently 

 in good condition for remounting. The skull 

 is mounted in the skin. 



The specimen is in the possession of 

 Jonathan Cates, Jr., Virginia Avenue, near 

 North Beach, Key West, Florida. 



0. H. TOWNSEND. 



New York Aquarium. 



ON THE ORIGIN OF THE SMALL MOUNDS OF THE 

 LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND TEXAS. 



In Science for January 5, Vol. XXIII., p. 

 35, Mr. A. C. Veatch, of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, takes up the question of the origin 

 of the small mounds of the lower Mississippi 

 and Texas, referring to an article of Mr. D. I. 

 Bushnell in Vol. XXII., p. Y12, followed by 

 a lengthy quotation from Foster's ' Prehis- 

 toric Races of the United States,' citing from 

 the manuscript notes of Professor Forshy: 

 " There is a class of mounds west of the Mis- 

 sissippi Delta and extending to the Arkansas 

 and above, and westward to the Colorado in 

 Texas, that are to me, after thirty years of 

 familiarity with them, entirely inexplicable." 

 He also quotes from the report of Colonel S. 

 H. Loekett's topographical survey of Louisi- 

 ana and from De Nadaillac's ' Prehistoric 

 America,' and gives the result of his own ob- 

 servations. 



