200 J. Marcou — Jura and Neocomian of Arkansas, 



Lately there came into my hands two publications on these 

 Kansas counties. One is a detailed description of them by 

 Professor Charles S. Prosser, in vol. ii of The University Geo- 

 logical Survey of Kansas, Topeka, 1896 ; and the other is a 

 paper entitled : On Outlying Areas of the Comanche Series 

 in Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, by Mr. P. T. Hill, 

 this Journal, vol. 1, pp. 205-234, issued in September, 1895, 

 but which entirely escaped my notice until one week ago, on 

 account of my time having been completely occupied for sev- 

 eral years by the writing and printing of the Life of Louis 

 Agassiz. 



I have studied with interest all the part of vol. ii, Kansas 

 Survey, entitled " Cretaceous-Comanche series of Kansas," pp. 

 96-181. The author gives carefully observed sections, and an 

 important geological map of " Southwest Comanche area." 

 He is clear and exact, but the paleontological part is not only 

 very meagre, but also incorrect so far as relates to the princi- 

 pal and very important fossil found, a rather large Gryphwa, 

 collected on the top of one of the Belvidere sections. As he 

 follows and uses the classification of Mr. Hill, my answer will 

 apply to both memoirs. 



According to two lists of fossils determined by Mr. T. W. 

 Stanton, at pp. 216 and 219 of Mr. Hill's paper, the Gryphwa 

 Tucumearii Marcou has been found at Blue Cut Mound, four 

 miles southwest of Belvidere, above the Gryphaza fornicu- 

 lata ; and Mr. Stanton adds: "It is interesting to note that 

 this form (G. Tucumearii), supposed by Prof. Marcou to be 

 Jurassic, here occurs above G. fomiculata, which he consid- 

 ered Neocomian, though there is only a few feet difference in 

 the beds and they seem to be connected by intermediate forms. 

 The geographic distribution of the two species is about the 

 same" (Hill's paper, p. 216). 



At the beginning of the controversy by Mr. James Hall in 

 1855, continued afterward by Dr. B. F. Shumard, Dr. J. S. 

 Newberry, Mr. E. T. Hill, and others too numerous to name, 

 I realized that a misuse of paleontology had been made, and 

 ever since paleontological misrule has held complete and 

 unchecked sway in regard to the numerous Gryphwa found in 

 the whole region south of the Arkansas river. After receiving 

 specimens now and then from Texas and Kansas, I saw clearly 

 that about eight or ten Gryphma existed there at different levels, 

 and that the confusion of species by Messrs. Hall, Poemer, Shu- 

 mard, Gabb, Charles A. White, Hill, Cragin and Stanton, was 

 sure to result in a complete revision and exact description of 

 all the Gryphma found in the region. I know, and I have 

 repeatedly said, that the identification of the numerous Gry- 

 p/icea Pitcheri was wrong in almost every case, my own 



