July 14, i{ 



)3.J 



SCIENCE. 



that they are always bountifully forthcouiing. But the things 

 which one really wants, the physical character of an alleged 

 ■discrepancy, its numerical value, the so- many per cent of error 

 under such conditions, — these one is left to wish for in vain, sup- 

 posing that one has not long since learned to pay the personal 

 gro ining for the personal satisfaction. So far as I am concerned, 

 if I could not adequately state how big a sin it is under which 

 somebody else is staggering, I should prefer to hold my peace, 

 believing that matters of vague conjectuie are not fit to be 

 chronicled. Nobody on the same side of common sense would to- 

 day attempt to exhaust so complex a problem as the one in 

 question in a single instance. It is reasonable, however, to try 

 to remove pi(ce by piece, element by element. What we did 

 was an endeavor to remove the preponderating element, and I 

 must re iterate that if our respite had not been cut short by 

 recent unfavorable legislation, other things would have been 

 brought out in their turn and in due time. Perhaps it is heresy 

 to state that an immense future awaits laboratory research in 

 phy^ical geology ; but stating it, one would like to refer not so 

 much to the punching of clay or the pulling of taffy candy, as 

 to legitimate physical measurement However, others have 

 survived even the odium of cultivating "exact" methods. We 

 are soothing ourselves with the comfort of so thinking. 



Cakl Baeus. 

 Phys. Laboratory, IT. S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D. C. 



The Lac de Marbre Trout, A New Species. 



Description: B. 11 12; D. 13; A. 13; V. 9; P. 14; Ver- 

 tebra;. 60. 



The specimen described is about twelve inches in length. 

 Body subfusiform, compressed, pointed at snout, slender at the 

 tail. Height of body near one-sixth of the total length ; head 

 one-fifth, crown convex. Snout one and one third, and interorbital 

 space one and one-half times the eye. Eye little less than one- 

 fifth of the head, two-thirds of the space between the orbits on 

 the forehead. Mouth large; maxillary straight, extending back- 

 ward almost as far as the hinder edge of the eye, bearing strong 

 teeth on its lower edge for nearl}' its entire length. Teeth on 

 intermaxillary and mandibles stronger. The tongue bears a 

 series of four strong hooked teeth at each side, and behind the 

 glossohyal on the basibranchials there is a band of several series 

 of smaller ones. Gill rakers straight, short, sharp, rough, 

 8 -(- 14 on the first arch. Opercle thin, with a few stria;. Scales 

 very small; apparently there areabout two hundred and thiity in 

 the series immediately above the lateral line and more than two 

 hundred and fifty in a row five or six scales above this. Distance 

 from first ray of dorsal to end of snout little more than that from 

 the same ray to the tip of the adipose fin. The middle of the 

 total length falls halfway between the ends of the hinder rajs of 

 the dorsal and its base. Dorsal and anal fins are shghtly 

 ■emarginate at the ends of their median rays. Pectorals and 

 ventrals small; base of latter slightly behind the middle of that 

 of the dorsal. Caudiil pedicel slender, notch very deep, hinder 

 border sinuous, as in Salmo alpinus, lobes pointed. The caudal 

 notch is deeper in this species than in any other of the American 

 forms except S. namaycush. 



Back dark brown with an iridescent blueish tint, unspotted. 

 Dorsal dark, clouded, without spots or bands. Pectorals, anal 

 and ventrals orange in the middle, yellowish or whitish toward 

 bases and at their margins. The dark color of the back shades 

 into whitish tinged with pink below the lateral line. Ventral 

 surface white, no doubt reddish In breeding season. Head black 

 on top. silvery on the cheeks, while beneath. Flesh pink. 

 Caudal lin yellowish toward the base, brown toward the hinder 

 border, vvhich ha? a narrow edging of light color. Faint areas 

 ot lighter tint suggest a few spots of red in life a'ong the lateral 

 line; the condition of the specimens is such that this may be 

 left in question, as also the number of caeca or presence of parr- 

 hands ot which there are faint Indie itions 



This fish is evidently allied to the blue-back of the Rangeley 

 Lakes, S. oquassa, but reaches a greater size than that species, 



and is readily distinguished by the maxillary and its dentition, 

 the caudal tin, and the coloration. Similarly when compared with 

 S. arcturus, S. stagnalis and S. Rossi, it is seen to be quite distinct. 

 With the saibling, S. alpinus, introduced in Sunapee Lake and 

 elsewhere, it has still less in common. 



Our specimens were taken in Lac de Marbre, Ottawa County, 

 Province of Quebec, Canada, whence they we.e sent by favor 

 of the Hon. J. G. A. Creighton. They reached us at the instance 

 of Mr. A. N. Cheney, fishing editor of Shooting and Fishing, 

 who when asked to suggest a speciflc name replied with the 

 question, 'How would it do to name it for Mr. R. B. Marston, 

 edhoT of Fishing Gazette, London, an Englishman overflowing 

 with good feeling for everything pertaining to fish, fishing and 

 America, and who is doing much to enhance friendly interest 

 between the people of the two countries?" In consequence of 

 the suggestion this handsome char, one of the handsomest of our 

 species, is introduced under the name, Salmo {Salvelinus) 

 Marstoni. S. Garman. 



Mus. Comp. Zool., Cambridge, Mass. 



Tucumcari. 



The writer first visited this historic locality in 1887, before he 

 had had opportunity to define the Denison beds at the top of his 

 Lower Cretaceous section in northern Texan, and fell into the 

 error, which others have not escaped, of concluding, from the 

 peculiar Jurassic-like Gryphcea dilatata, Marcou, the only fossils 

 found upon that visit, that the beds were Jurassic, and so pub- 

 lished his opinion. 



Later, however, after having had an opportunity to complete 

 his study and arrangement of the stratigraphy of the Comanche 

 series in central Texas, he discovered in the Denison beds' of his 

 Washita Division certain features which led him to believe that 

 his early diagnosis of the Tucumcari beds was erroneous, and that 

 they were really closely allied in age to the Denison beds. Under 

 this impression, which was communicated orally to all interested, 

 he availed himself of the first opportunity to revisit Tucumcari, 

 April 30,1891. He then discovered in association with G. dilatata 

 the list of additional species herewith given, and, at earliest op- 

 portunity, under date of May, 1893, published, in a general dis- 

 cussion of the region, the following revision of his previous con- 

 clusions, which was the first printed announcement of the Cre- 

 taceous age of the G. dilatata beds: — » 



" The Trinity Sands and Red Bed Regions. 



"The writer has twice visited the Mesa Tucumcari and found 

 it a most Interesting geological remnant of the former area of the 

 Llano Estacado. The table or summit described by Capt. Simpson 

 is covered with the typical Llano Estacado formation, identical in 

 composition and formerly continuous with the sheet which covers 

 the Llano proper, some iO miles distant. Below this is a vertical 

 escarpuient of 50 feet or more of typical Dakota sandstone resting 

 upon loo?e sands and clays, forming a slope identical in aspect 

 and fossil remains with the Denison beds of the Washita Division, 

 which have been eroded away from the 400 miles intervening 

 between it and the main body of those beds at Denison, Texas. 

 Beneath this is a large deposit of the typical Trinity sands country ' 

 of white pack sands, thin clay seams, and flagstones, while the 

 base is composed of the typical vermilion sandy clays ot the Red 

 Beds." 



Notwithstanding the above clear statement of my opinions, the 

 Third Annual Report of the Geological Survey, printed nearly a 

 half-year afterward, devotes many pages to asserting that I held 

 to the Jurassic ai^e of the O. dilatata beds at Tucumcari. Upon 

 pointing out this misquotation, instead of acknowledging the 

 error, and repairing the Injustice, it was followed up by a privately 



1 Denison beds as origlnilly defined and used by writer. Not the Denison 

 beds of Taa, as used In an entirely different meaning. Compare Bulletin of 

 Geological Society of America, Vol. ii., p. 591, and Third Annual Report of 

 Texas State Geological Survey. 



' "On the Occurrence of Artesian and Other Underground Waters in 

 Texas, Eastern New Mi xico, aud ludlaii Territory West of the 9Tth Merldlnr," 

 by Robert Thomas Hill (being part of Vol. III. of Senate Document 41, Ist 

 Session, 53d Congress, Washington, May, 1S95. 



' For 'country of "read "consisting of "—a typographic error. 



