C. U. Shepard — Meteoric Stone of Waconda^ Kansas. 473 



reptiles in this vicinity and are working them iip with care. I 

 do not know as yet what we have, but am certain of several 

 species of Crocodiles and think we have Iguanodon. * * * 

 Branner reports quantities of line Cretaceous fossils from the 

 Province of Sergipe, where he is now." ******* 



" We are now engaged in an exploration of the bav [Bahia 

 de Todos os Santos] and are in a little town four hours by 

 steam from the city [Bahia]. The geology of this vicinity is 

 mainly Cretaceous and Tertiary and quite interesting, though 

 one should have a dozen pairs of eyes to study it. Sections are 

 hard to find and when found more diflacult to understand 

 properly. The rock is much decomposed and about a dozen 

 different things present ahnost the same appearance when in a 

 state of decomposition." 



"I have visited a diamond locality. * * * They occur 

 in gravel which is either late Tertiary or modern." 



A collection of Brazilian auriferous ores, Professor Hartt 

 writes, will be exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Phila- 

 delphia. The friends of the Professor will be pleased to learn 

 that he has removed with his family to the mountains back of 

 Rio, where all are safe from the ravages of the yellow fever. 



Letters for the members of the Commission should be sent 

 enclosed to Major 0. C. James, Secretario do Commissao 

 G-eologica, Caixa no Correio No. 126, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to 

 whom all business connected with the survey may be entrusted. 

 Questions which can be answered by the undersigned will re- 

 ceive due attention. ' Theo. B. Comstock. 



Ithaca, N. Y., May 5, 18t6. 



Art. IjKIV.— Notice of the Metem^ic Stone of Waconda, Miichd 

 County, Kansas; by Chakles Upham Shepard, Sr., Massa- 

 chusetts Professor of Natural History in Amhei-st College. 



For my first knowledge of the meteorite of Waconda, Kansas, 

 I am indebted to Dr. George W. Chapman of that place. 

 This gentleman wrote me on the subject during my absence 

 from the country the past summer, and it was not until lately 

 that the correspondence was renewed which has led to the in- 

 formation now aflPorded. From his letters and a few grams of 

 the stone transmitted by post, I am enabled to give the follow- 

 ing partial description,— reserving a fuller account until my 

 return to the north, when I expect to receive the large mass 

 from which the fragments sent were detached. 



The stone was found two years since, lying above ground, in 

 the grass, upon the slope of a ravine, at the distance of two 



