1068 The American Naturalist. [December, 
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
The Hindshaw Natural History Expedition returned to the Univer- 
sity of Washington at Seattle, June 15, 1896 from the eastern part of 
State. The party consisted of Henry H. Hindshaw, Curator of the 
Museum, Mrs. Hindshaw, and Trevor ©. D. Kincaid, Laboratory 
Assistant in Biology. Transportation was secured for the members of 
the expedition from the Northern Pacific Railroad, through Surgeon 
F. H. Coe of Seattle. The party made headquarters at Pasco, where 
they proceeded to collect a fine lot of plants not found in other parts 
of the state. In all there were acquired several hundred specimens, 
covering 150 species. Arrangements were then made for an explora- 
tion for Indian relics up the Snake river; and in the meantime Mr. 
and Mrs. Hindshaw proceeded to the sand hills of Douglas county. 
These were reached by a trip to Ritzville, thence to Hatton, and from 
there a drive to the hills of about sixteen miles. Mr. Hindshaw reports 
some interesting geological facts concerning these sand-hills, or dunes. 
By an examination of the surrounding blanket or cover of basalt; he 
concludes that the area covered by these dunes was left uncovered by 
the general flow of lava making the basalt. This deposit of sand is the 
layer known as the “John Day” bed. It is the water-bearing rock of 
Eastern Washington. Farmers come from miles to these sand-hills, 
where they get plenty of water with little digging. Away from the 
dunes artesian wells have been sunk. Water is obtained, but some- 
times it is necessary to bore through hundreds of basalt to reach the 
“John Day,” or water-bearing, rock. The “John Day” beds carry 
most interesting fossil bones. Mr. Hindshaw brought home many teeth 
. and bones of the fossil rhinoceros and horse, the latter probably the 
three-toed ancestor of the present horse. These bones have been worn 
in the waves of moving sand as badly or worse than is a shell battered 
by the waves of the ocean. Only the hardest parts of the bones remain, 
but these are of great interest until further explorations yield more 
perfect skeletens of these prehistoric mammal remains. After making 
a thorough search of these sand-hills and procuring all the fossil bones 
in sight, the party returned to Pasco. Here Mr. D. A. Owen, an en- 
thusiastic collector of Indian curios, had perfected arrangements for a 
trip up Snake river to Page’s ferry and on to the deserted cattle-ranch 
known as McCoy’s. These places were evidently the camping grounds 
of great bands or villages of Indians before the arrival of the white 
