196 THE DEVONIAN AND CARBONIFEROUS. Ibull.80. 



system," and were "very nearly allied to types considered character- 

 istic of the Permian of the Old World." The letter states that when 

 Major Hawn was informed of the identification, several months pre- 

 vious, he reported that the bed from which the fossils were obtained 

 was above the well marked Coal Measures, " and seems to have been 

 deposited upon an uneven surface." 



On the same day that this announcement was made to the Philadel- 

 phia Academy, a paper entitled " Description of new organic remains 

 from northeastern Kansas, indicating the existence of Permian rocks 

 in that Territory," by Messrs. Meek and Hayden, was read before the 

 Albany Institute. 1 



In this paper, which was read before the Albany Institute March 2, 

 1858, the authors announce that fossils had been examined by them, 

 received from Maj. F. Hawn " from near the mouth of the Smoky Hill 

 Fork of the Kansas River, in a hard, rather compact, yellowish, brittle 

 magnesian limestone." They differed " from forms known to us in any 

 part of the Carboniferous system, yet were more nearly like Upper 

 Carboniferous than Triassic or Jurassic types. * * * Suspecting 

 this rock might represent the Permian system of the Old World, a 

 hasty comparison was made * * * which almost established the 

 conviction (six or eight months ago) that they belonged to that epoch." 



" From the unquestionable relations of some [of the species] and the 

 apparent affinities of others, taken in connection with the lithological 

 characters and the stratigraphical position of the rock in which they 

 occur, we think there is scarcely room to doubt that it is of Permian 

 age."* 



These announcements of the Permian character of the fossils discov- 

 ered by F. Hawn in Kansas were followed later by the recognition of 

 Permian fossils by B. F. Shumard from the white limestones of the 

 Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, March 8, 1858, collected by G. G. 

 Shumard. 3 



J. G. Norwood, April 5, 1858, announced to the St. Louis Academy 

 that comparison of fossils found in the upper part of the sections in 

 Bureau, La Salle, and Henry Counties, Illinois, with those identified by 

 Messrs. Swallow and Meek, had convinced him that the upper beds of 

 his sections were of the same age as those belonging to the Permian 

 rocks of Kansas. 4 



1 Trans. Alb. Inst., vol. 4, pp. 73-88. Also, Am. Jour. Sci., vol. 25, pp. 440,441. 



2 The following species are described : Monotis Hawni (p. 76) ; Myalina (Mytilus) perattenuata (p. 

 77), Bakevellia parva (p. 78), Leda (Nucula) substitute!, (p. 79), Edmondia ? Calhouni (p. 80), Pleu- 

 rophorus ? octidentalis (p. 80), P. (Oar din la) subcuneata (p. 81), Lyonsia (Penopcea) concava (p. 82), 

 Penpcea Cooperi (p. 83), Nautilus eccentricus (p. 83). 



*See Trans. St. Louis Acad. Sci., vol. 1, p. 113 ; also March 23, 1858, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., vol. 10, p. 14. 

 The description of these fossils is published in the transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, 

 vol. 1, pp. 387-403. 



4 Trans. St. Louis Acad. Sci., vol. 1, p. 115. See also Norwood, J. G.: The Permian in Illinois, Am. 

 Jour. Sci., vol. 26, 1858, pp. 129, 130. 



Hayden, F. V., and F. B. Meek. [On tho probable existence of Permian rocks in Kansas.] (Read 

 March 2, 1858.) Philadelphia Acad. Sci., Proc, vol. 10, 1859, pp. 9, 10. 



