208 McGee and Call — Loss of Des Moines, Iowa. 



2. — Vermilion-red clay, tenacious when wet, friable and granular 



when dry, massive below and obscurely laminated above, 



containing a few small exfoliated pebbles of shale and more 



abundant minute reniform nodules of impure limonite, and 



exhibiting occasional dark-red ochreous stains. 



3. — Arenaceous Carboniferous shale, gray, blue, yellowish and 



drab in color. 



The loss in this section is continuous with that in the last, 



and is identical with it in every particular except that the false 



line of separation is here absent. The red clay is the product 



of decomposition in situ (preglacial) of the subjacent shale. 



Though the junction between the loss and clay is quite distinct, 



owing to the difference in color, there is some interstratification 



of the two deposits. The loss here yielded the following fossils : 



Suceinea obliqua Sar. Mesodon clausa Say. 



Lh,nn>plnj.«i In/noli* Saw l'ntubt xtriatella Anth. 



*Helicina occulta Say. * Vallonia puichella Mull. 



1. — Light reddish-buff unstratified ig numerous 



rounded, subangular and angular pebbles, mainly erratic, 

 up to six inches in diameter, bits of coal and a lenticular 

 mass of Carboniferous clay three feet long and six inches 

 thick. Seven feet. 



2. — The same, obscurely and irregularly strati tied, iuterstratitied 

 with bands of loss, and sometimes contorted, containing 

 lr.ss-kindehen, tubelets and fossils (often fragmentary), in 



as in the bands of loss. Five feet. 

 ;l. — Loss, sitnilai t<>;n .• observed insertions 



1 and 2, abounding in l6ss-kindchen, tubelets and fossils ; 



the following species being represented : 

 Suceinea obliqua Sar. Mesodon clausa Say. 



Llnno.phyxa humilis Say. St> /<<>tm,i>i m<>i>»don Rackett. 



*Helicina occulta Say. Ilyalina arborea Say. 



Workmen were engaged in making this excavation at the 

 time of examination ; and it was accordingly perfectly fresh 

 and unaltered. The interstratification described was perfectly 

 distinct. The fauna here was found to be identical with, but 

 less abundant than, that of the undisturbed loss, which was 

 exposed for only about a foot at the base of the section. The 

 loss here is confidently coordinated with that of sections 1 and 

 2 on paleontological, lithological and stratigraphical grounds ; 

 for not only are faunas and physical characters identical, but 



