Geology and Mineralogy. 257 



brownish conglomerates with interbedded lavas lying unconform- 

 able on earlier formations. 



The present investigation was undertaken jointly by the United 

 States Geological Survey and the State of Maine in a search for 

 coal, and ten days of field work were sufficient to amply prove 

 that there is no geological evidence to support the belief that 

 coal exists in this region. This investigation brings clearly to 

 light the value of geologic work. For the last seventy years 

 there has been a persistent belief that coal could be obtained in 

 the district about Passamaquoddy Bay, and shafts and drill holes 

 have been put down at considerable expense at different times. 

 This persistent myth has led the public astray and shows how 

 ready the average man is to accept favorable rather than unfavor- 

 able reports. At a small expense the question of coal in Maine 

 has been settled once for all and might have been equally as well 

 settled fifty years ago if it had been so desired. 



In addition to newly discovered plant remains Dr. White has 

 studied the collections in American museums, and his present 

 descriptions and figures constitute a fairly complete study of the 

 Perry fauna. 



4. Preliminary Report on the Arhuekle and Wichita Moun- 

 tains of Indian Territory and Oklahoma ; by Jos. A. Taff : with 

 an appendix on Reported Ore Deposits; by H. Foster Bain. 

 United States Geological Survey, Professional Paper No. 31, 93 

 pp., 8 pis., 1 fig. — Very little has been heretofore known regard- 

 ing these interesting mountain areas lying west of the main 

 Ozark uplift. The Arbuckle Mountains consist of a great thick- 

 ness of rock chiefly limestone, from Middle Cambrian to Devo- 

 nian, overlaid by Carboniferous conglomerates, shales, and sand- 

 stones. The central part of the district, unconformably beneath 

 the Cambrian strata, is a mass of granite, granite porphyry, dia- 

 base, and associated crystalline rocks. The mountains date from 

 Middle Carboniferous, but were worn down before the end of 

 Carboniferous time. Folding and faulting occurred during all 

 Carboniferous, and there is no record of sedimentation between 

 the Permian and Cretaceous. Peneplanation occurred in Creta- 

 ceous time and also in Tertiary, when the region was reduced 

 practically to sea-level. The structure of the mountains has been 

 worked out in detail and shows a number of well-developed anti- 

 clines and synclines. 



The Wichita Mountains are a new field of study and consist of 

 a collection of mountains, hills, and knobs extending for a dis- 

 tance of 65 miles. The mountain region is symmetrical in gene- 

 ral outlines ; but the arrangement, size, and forms of individual 

 masses are remarkably various and rise from the nearly level 

 smooth plain of the "red-beds" as so many islands. The moun- 

 tains proper and most of their outlying groups consist of granite, 

 granite porphyry, and gabbro. These igneous rocks are separated 

 into more than 250 detached areas, and this archipelago-like 

 arrangement of the granite peaks seems to indicate that but a 



