782 The Loess in Central Towa. [ October, 
separated from the colony, it is evident that we have a condition 
of life in this instance very different from that usually met with 
among lower animals, especially among the jelly-fishes. Apo- 
lemia is, without question, a colony composed of many members, 
which in younger stages are attached together in the form of a 
Siphonophore, but as it grows older, each colony breaks up into 
many fragments, each of which lives wholly independent of its 
neighbor. The growth of a fragment after it has been separated 
from its connections, has never been traced, and it is not known 
how long or short that life may be, but in other genera belong- 
ing to a group of Siphonophores, quite unlike the Physophoride, 
the whole history of the growth of such a fragment has been 
followed. Apolemia is very interesting from its relationship to 
this form known as Diphyes, the type of a large family of Siphon- 
ophores called the Diphyide. The anatomy of this animal will 
be pointed out in a paper to follow the present, after which its 
curious relatives can be better understood, and the reasons why 
they are not placed in the group with Agalma better appreciated. 
0 
THE LOESS IN CENTRAL IOWA. 
BY R. ELLSWORTH CALL. 
ig the 16th of May last, the writer discovered unmistakable 
loess under and around the city of Des Moines. Following 
are the details of the discovery, and such notes thereon as may 
be of general interest. 
It might be well to remark that this formation has hitherto 
been known only in Western and Southwestern Iowa, as has been 
reported by the various surveys and explorations sustained by the 
General and State Governments; and in Southeastern Iowa, as 
reported on to the Muscatine Academy of Science, by Professor 
F. M. Witter, formerly of that city. He found the loess under 
certain portions of Muscatine, with its characteristic fossils, a list 
of which, if my memory serves me, he reported with his paper 
A reference is made (White’s Geology of Iowa, Vol. 1, p- 114 
foot note) to a deposit of the loess near the source of one of the 
branches of the Raccoon, east of the great water-shed of the 
State, but which of the three branches of the Raccoon is meant, 
or the locality of the deposit, is not indicated. 
