126 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 865 



and was put down by tlie Forest Oil Com- 

 pany in 1897. The well was dedicated to sci- 

 ence and had for its purpose drilling down 

 and into the Corniferous limestone, but after 

 a depth of 5,575 feet was reached an accident 

 beyond repair occurred and further drilling 

 was from necessity abandoned. The well was 

 begun 130 feet below the Pittsburgh coal, and 

 after passing through rocks of the Carbonif- 

 erous (Pennsylvanian and Mississippian) and 

 of the Upper and most of the Middle Devo- 

 nian, was bottomed (5,575 feet) in supposed 

 Marcellus black shale, probably not more than 

 100 feet above the Corniferous limestone. 

 The vast thickness of rocks penetrated by the 

 well were all sedimentaries, including, accord- 

 ing to the log,^ shales, slates, coal, sandstones 

 and limestones, as the chief lithologic types. 

 At the request of Dr. White, Professor 

 William Hallock, of Columbia University, was 

 afforded every facility for measuring the tem- 

 perature of the well. A brief statement of the 

 temperatures measured in the well was pub- 

 lished by Professor Hallock in 1897.' Five 

 measurements made at different depths are 

 recorded by Dr. White. These may be tabu- 

 lated as follows :^ 



TEMPERATDKE MEASTIEEMENTS IN WEST ELIZABETH 

 DEEP WELL 



Kind of rock 



525 ft. 57° F. Sand. 



2,252 ft. 64 1,677 ft. 7° F. Slate 



2,397 ft. 78 445 ft. 14 Slate and shells. 



5,010 ft. 120 2,613 ft. 42 Limestone. 



5,380 ft. 127 370 ft. 7 Slate. 



The figures in the table above explain 

 themselves and need no comment except that 

 the increment of heat is shown to be exceed- 

 ingly variable, and is in accord with many 

 other deep wells over the earth's surface in 

 which temperature measurements have been 



'A complete log of the well is published by 

 Dr. White in Volume 1(A) of the West Virginia 

 Geological Survey, 1904, pp. 104-107. 



* Hallock, W., School of Mines Quarterly, 1897, 

 pp. 151-153. 



°Data taken from Vol. 1(A) of West Virginia 

 Geological Survey, 1904, pp. 104-107. 



made. The explanation offered for the varia- 

 tion in temperature shown in this well is the 

 presence of a considerable flow of natural 

 gas from the Bayard sand at 2,283-7 feet." 

 The average increment of heat for a depth of 

 4,855 feet, which represents the difference be- 

 tween the least (525 feet) and the greatest 

 (5,380 feet) depths at which temperature 

 measurements were made, is 1° P. for every 

 69.3' feet. 



Thomas L. Watson 

 University op Virginia 



additional note on reticulated fish-scales 

 Since the publication of my recent account 

 of dipnoan fish scales in Science, some in- 

 teresting facts have come to light. 



1. Dr. L. Hussakof, of the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, has very kindly 

 placed in my hands scales of Sagenodus from 

 the Carboniferous rocks of Mazon Creek, Hli- 

 nois. A well-developed scale is oval, about 

 50 mm. long and 37 broad, and in appear- 

 ance and structure essentially agrees with the 

 scale of the living (Australian) Neoceraiodus. 

 The reticulations are evident, and the very 

 fine basal longitudinal fibrillse are minutely 

 tubereulate. Thus we have positive evidence 

 of the enormous antiquity of this type of 

 scale, including even the details of structure. 



2. A specimen of the sucker Moxostoma 

 cervinum Cope, collected by Dr. B. W. Ever- 

 mann, proves to have two kinds of scales. 

 One has a quadrate form, with strong latero- 

 basal angles, strong apical and basal radii, 

 the circuli dense in the basal and lateral 

 fields, but widely spaced in the apical. This 

 is the sort of scale we are accustomed to find 

 in Moxostoma, a scale strongly suggestive of 

 various old-world cyprinids. The other type 

 of scale has the laterobasal angles more 

 rounded, radial lines running to the margin 



" Professor Hallock states that ' ' the thermome- 

 ters at 2,250 feet indicated a cooling due to the ex- 

 pansion of the gas amounting to about 14°." Op. 

 cit., p. 153. Gas, volume 25 lbs. per min., West 

 Virginia Geol. Survey, Vol. 1(A), p. 105. 



' Professor Hallock gives the increment of heat 

 from top to bottom (5,000 feet) of -svell as 1° F. 

 for 71.5 feet. Op. cit., p. 150, table II. 



