no 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 629 



As to the invasion of fields occupied by pro- 

 fessors of geology, there are in the files of the 

 survey many letters to such professors urging 

 them to -work up the local geology and offering 

 financial assistance and means of publication of 

 their results. The case of the Fayetteville quad- 

 rangle is perhaps an apparent exception. It 

 should be stated, however, that when the work 

 was undertaken there Professor Purdue was 

 practically unkno^nl as a geologist and was, as 

 a matter of fact, not sufficiently experienced to 

 carry on independent work. Since his season with 

 Adams he has been employed each summer and 

 has submitted three folios for publication. It has 

 been necessary, however, in connection with this 

 work, to send more experienced men into the field 

 with him, although he will receive the entire 

 credit for the work. 



It was not my intention to cast any reflec- 

 tion, even in a personal letter, upon Professor 

 Purdue's work, the quality of which has been 

 higher than that of most work done for the 

 survey under similar conditions. When he 

 was first entrusted with independent work, 

 however, his field experience was less than is 

 required for the regular members of the survey 

 and his ability in this direction was not known 

 to us. It is for this reason, and not because 

 of any deficiency in the quality of his results 

 that more experienced men have conferred or 

 collaborated with him in the field. This 

 course is, indeed, frequently necessary with 

 regular members of the survey, as well as with 

 per diem men. That Professor Purdue's work 

 is regarded as good is sufficiently shown by the 

 fact that an allotment for its continuance has 

 been made every year since it was begun. A 

 further point in his favor, and one highly 

 appreciated, is that his results are submitted 

 when promised. Chas. D. Walcott, 



Director 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 

 EVIDENCE OF MAN IN THE LOESS OF NEBRASKA 



After careful investigation the writer 

 stands ready to announce his belief in the 

 occurrence of human remains in the loess of 

 this state, and for this primitive type he has 

 proposed the name Nebraska loess man.' 



'Nebraska Geological Survey, Vol. II., parts 5 

 and 6. 



Such importance attaches to the discovery 

 as to warrant a paper devoted to the geo- 

 logical facts connected therewith. 



Physiographic Features. — North of Omaha 

 for a number of miles the topographic fea- 

 tures are bold and abrupt for a prairie country 

 due to the proximity of the Missouri River, 

 the relief being 150 to 200 feet. 



On all sides landslides are in evidence 

 and must be reckoned with in all field work. 

 Early in October Mr. Robert P. Gilder, of 

 Omaha, opened a mound on Long's hill facing 

 the Missouri River, ten miles north of Omaha 

 or three miles north of Florence, Douglass 

 County, Nebraska. Prom Florence north to 

 Long's hill there is a continuous section along 

 the roadside for about three miles and from 

 the base of Long's hill to the summit, on 

 which Gilder's mound is situated, there is an 

 imbroken section, hence the geology of the 

 place is well exposed, and being simple is 

 easily interpreted. The public highway, which 

 is about forty feet above the river level, is 

 just upon the top of the Carboniferous, the 

 dark carbonaceous shales of which constitute 

 a distinct geological feature. Upon the shales 

 there rests an average of ten to twenty feet 

 of glacial drift containing occasional Sioux 

 quartzite and granitic boulders. Upon the 

 drift comes 150 feet of bright buff loess such 

 as is conspicuous in and around Omaha and 

 Council Bluffs. 



Long's hill stands 200 feet above the river 

 level, and 150 feet above the valley out of 

 which it rises. It is a hill of erosion, and no 

 discoverable land slip has complicated its 

 simple geology. On its summit is Gilder's 

 mound, in the superficial layer of which were 

 found mound-builder remains, and in the 

 deeper layer eight skulls and many bones of a 

 still more primitive type. The writer at once 

 joined Mr. Gilder in a critical investiga- 

 tion of the place, continuing the work from 

 time to time to December 2, 1906, with re- 

 sults leading to the conclusion that two of 

 the skulls are mound builders', in all prob- 

 ability. These were found in the upper layer 

 readily discernible as a mixture of black soil 

 and light buff subsoil such as would result 

 from digging and burying. This layer has a 



