30 University of Kansas Geological Survey. 



dectes etenodon Cope, which is based on jaws and thirteen vertebra? from the 

 yellow chalk. I hope that this species also may at some future time be more 

 fully developed. 



I hope these researches, so successfully commenced, may cover the whole ver- 

 tebrate fauna of the strata. I have studied especially the mammals and birds, 

 as well as the reptiles and fishes. If you desire any part or all of my manuscript 

 for the annual report to the legislature, I will send it on ; in the meantime it 

 will appear in Silliman's Journal and some abstracts here. 



I remain, with much regard, etc., Edwd. D. Cope. 



Late in the season of 1870, Professor Marsh, with an escort 

 of United States soldiers, spent a short time on the upper part 

 of the Smoky Hill river collecting vertebrate fossils. The ma- 

 terial then collected served for the description of a number of 

 interesting types by Marsh. It included the first known speci- 

 men of " Odontornithes," a foot bone brought in with other 

 material, but which was not discovered in the material until 

 after other specimens had been obtained later. In June of the 

 following year Marsh again visited the same region, with a 

 larger party and a stronger escort of United States troops, and 

 was rewarded by the discovery of the skeleton which forms the 

 type of Hesperomis regalis Marsh, together with other material. 



In 1871 Prof. E. D. Cope visited the regions and made many 

 valuable discoveries, besides giving important notes concern- 

 ing the geology of the formation. "The geology of the re- 

 gions marked by this formation (the Niobrara epoch) is quite 

 simple. The following description of the section along the line 

 of the Kansas Pacific railroad will probably apply to similar 

 sections north and south of it. The formations referable to the 

 Cretaceous period on this line are the Dakota, Benton and Nio- 

 brara groups, or Nos. 1, 2, and 3, etc." 



In 1S72 Professor Mudge made another expedition into the 

 Cretaceous for fossils. The party accompanying him consisted 

 of Professor Merrill, of Washburn College, Professor Felker, of 

 Michigan Agricultural College, Professor Warder, of the Indiana 

 Geological Survey, and seven students of the Agricultural College. 

 They explored northwestern Kansas, traveling over 900 miles. It 

 was on this exposition that Professor Mudge found the remark- 

 able specimen of Ickthyornis, from the North Fork of the Solo- 



