R. T Hill — The alleged Jurassic of Texas. 449 



Art. XLYIII. — The alleged Jurassic of Texas. A Reply 

 to Professor Jules Marcou ; by Kobt. T. Hill. 



Apropos of personal criticisms and questions of fact con- 

 cerning the validity of the work of myself and others upon 

 the later Mesozoic formations in the Southwestern United 

 States, made by Professor Jules Marcou* in many recent pub- 

 lications, such as the American Geologist, f Proceedings of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History;};, Science,§ and espe- 

 cially the paper entitled " Jura of Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, 

 New Mexico and Texas," in this Journal for September, 1897 

 (pp. 197-212), I beg to submit the following statements. 



In the month of September, 1853, Professor Jules Marcou, 

 while accompanying a rapidly marching military expedition 

 for the preliminary determination of a Route for a Pacific 

 Railway Survey which was traveling up the valley of the 

 Canadian River, through Oklahoma, the Panhandle of Texas, 

 and Northeastern New Mexico, saw two small, outlying beds of 

 the Lower Cretaceous formation. 



The first of these localities, which he termed that of Comet 

 Creek, then in Indian Territory, is in what is now known as G 

 County, Oklahoma, west of the present town of Arapahoe. It 

 has recently been revisited by Mr. T. Wayland Vaughan of 

 the United States Geological Survey and described in this 

 Journal for July, 1897. At this spot, Professor Marcou, 

 according to his own statement, remained " only one hour."[ 



The second locality was a detached outlier of the Llano 

 Estacado, standing in the broad valley through which the 

 Canadian winds its way through northeastern New Mexico. 

 Here he remained u only three or four hours." Each of these 



* In my writings I have always shown the greatest respect for Professor Mar- 

 cou, and still have for him the most charitable and friendly feelings. Further- 

 more, I have always given and shall continue to give him the fullest credit 

 whenever credit is due. The injustice of his attacks upon me and the incorrect- 

 ness of his statements, which, if unanswered, would prove serious defacements of 

 the scientific record, force me to take note of his accusations, and to add a line of 

 controversy to geologic literature. Professor Marcou's attacks upon the validity 

 of my work have been so direct, numerous and skillfully introduced into the 

 geologic literature of the day under the guise of alleged scientific discus- 

 sion, that I would deem it unjust not only to myself but to my co-laborers and 

 the United States Geological Survey, with which organization I am connected, and 

 the scientific world in general, not to correct some of his assertions It is also 

 at the earnest solicitation of several of my co-laborers, who have read this manu- 

 script, that it is submitted to the public. 



f Growth of Knowledge concerning the Texas Cretaceous, August, 1894. 



t The Jura of Texas, October, 1896, pp. 149-158. 



§ Science, Oct. 22, 1897. 



I •' I was enabled on account of the rapidity of the march of my military escort, 

 to remain at Comet Creek only one hour, and at Pyramid Mount only three or 

 four hours." — This Journal, September, 1897, p. -198. 



