THE CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS IN SOUTHEAST KANSAS. 275 



8. Twenty-eight feet limestone abounding in Fusulina cylindrica ; the mid- 

 dle layers contain blue chert full of Fusulince showing the structure very finely. 



9. Twenty-eight feet of sandstone. 



10. Four feet gray limestone containing Produdus semireticulatus, Allorisma 

 granosa, A. subcuneaia, Pinna peracuia, Nautilus capax^ etc. 



The last bed I regard as the base of the Permian. 



Other fossils obtained at the several localities include Allorisma subelegans, 

 A. Topekaensis, Macrodon — , Nautilus occidentaHs, Murchisonia — . Although 

 these fossils seem at home in the Permian, I have obtained them also, with scarcely 

 an exception, from known Upper Coal-measure rocks of Missouri; in fact most of 

 them have been obtained from the rocks of Kansas City. 



The limestones of the Permian have been extensively quarried in Kansas 

 from the southern to the northern part of the State, and many tons sent off to 

 the market. Some of the rock quarried is too soft for valuable structures, but 

 many very excellent quarries have been opened. 



From levels taken on corresponding beds wide apart, we find there is a reg- 

 ular dip, westwardly, of not less than twenty-five feet per mile. Assuming this 

 to be correct we may be safe in saying that there are 1500 feet total thickness of 

 Permian beds in southern Kansas. In the counties of Butler, Cowley, Elk and 

 Greenwood, it is the newest rock below the Quaternary. No other rocks of later 

 formation than the Permian are found here. The Permian of Kansas rests con- 

 formably on the Coal-measures, and there is no decided line of separation between 

 the two. Certain strata can be grouped together as can certain other strata of 

 other formations. 



The only marked difference is this : Passing a certain horizon in the as- 

 cending series, we find the rocks to be all of a drab, buff or cream color and the 

 hmestones more impure and breaking with a rough fracture, and when vertically 

 jointed the angle more nearly approaches a right angle, whereas the Coal-measure 

 limestones are generally more acutely jointed and the blocks are regular rhom- 

 boids. 



The group of the Permian Mountains forms an interesting study ; the strata 

 are easily traced and the scenery afforded is very fine and the view extensive. 



The above is an abstract of a more detailed paper. — American Journal of 

 Science. 



From the nodule of chromite in the interior of the meteorite iron of Coha- 

 huila, Mexico, Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville, Kentucky, has obtained, 

 on analysis of it, 62.61 of oxide of chromium and 33.82 of ferrous oxide. 



V— 18 



