July 31, 1885/ 



SCIENCE, 



87 



above Stanley's and in the field below. 

 Those near Stanley's, perhaps six feet long, 

 seem to have come from the precipice at the 

 top of the mountain, as identified b}^ the mineral 

 composition. The largest block examined in 

 the field is twelve feet long, six feet wide, 

 and five feet high, and is of porphjTy. Others 

 were not examined, but these suggest that the 

 sj-enite fragments started from the summit 

 precipice. These struck the projecting ledges 

 of porphyrj' three hundred feet lower down at 

 the commencement of the steeper slope, when 

 all of them combined furnished the accidental 

 force which urged the moistened debris down 

 the mountain-side with such fearful velocit3\ 



The debris is thoroughly mixed with vege- 

 table loam, and the black soil of the forest ; 

 so that, though covered by a j^ard thickness of 

 mud, the field may again become productive 

 to tillage. This mud disported itself very 

 much like lava flowing down incUned slopes, 

 the terminations being escalloped, and the 

 surface waved by small ridges like ropy lava. 



Briefly, then, the conditions giving rise to 

 this slide upon Cherry Mountain seem to have 

 been the presence of gravelly granitic debris 

 upon smooth ledges having a jointed structure 

 pointing downwards. This debris^ thoroughly 

 saturated by water, became plastic and moved 

 downwards just as soon as the blocks of 

 syenite and porphyry started on their course, 

 breaking off trees, and thus increasing the 

 moving mass every rod of the way, till the 

 lessened slope caused the viscous flood to stop. 

 Such has been the historj^ probabl}^ of all the 

 more notable slides in the White Mountains. 



The locality may be reached most conven- 

 iently by wa}' of the Whitefield and JeflTerson 

 railroad. All trains will stop at the ' slide sta- 

 tion ' if desired. This is a point only seventy- 

 five rods distant from the base of the slide. 



C. H. Hitchcock. 



AN AMERICAN SILURIAN SCORPION. 



On Nov. 12, 1884, the announcement that 

 a fossil scorpion had been found in Silurian 

 rocks in Sweden was made to the Swedish 

 academy of sciences, and the printed notice 

 of it pubhshed in the Comptes rendus of the 

 French academy, Dec. 1. On Dec. 18, Dr. 

 Hunter of Scotland, in making the announce- 

 ment of the Swedish discovery to the Edinburgh 

 geological society, stated that he also had 

 found a Silurian scorpion during the summer 

 of 1883 in Scotland ; and I can now add the 

 statement that a fossil scorpion has been found 

 in the Silurian rocks of America, and at an 



earlier period than either the Swedish or Scottish 

 specimen, as it was obtained by the discoverer 

 on Nov. 10, 1882. 



On June 8 of this year, Mr. A. O. Osborne 

 of Waterville, Oneida county, N.Y., wrote me 

 that he had that day sent me a small box of 

 fossils which he wished me to name for him, 

 mentioning a few of them as of " special in- 

 terest, as they are the first of the kind that I 

 have found." On opening the box, some two 

 weeks after it arrived, I found among those 

 of ' special interest ' a nearly entire scorpion 

 which measures a little more than one and a 

 half inches in length, but wanting a part of 

 the fifth, and all of the sixth, segment of the 

 tail. The specimen is preserved on the sur- 

 face of hard hydraulic limestone, and presents 

 the dorsal side to view. It is extremely thin 

 and compressed, and, as a part of the substance 

 is removed along the right-hand side of the 

 abdomen and over the entire portion of the 

 tail shown, these parts expose the inside of 

 the ventral surface. The specimen shows the 

 Cephalothorax and the left mandible (1) in 

 place ; the left palpus entire, with its chelate 

 process (2) ; the first walking limb on the left 

 side (3), with an apparently bijid extremit}' ; 

 and parts of each of the other three limbs on 

 the same side. On the right side the palpus is 

 folded on itself, and is imperfect. On the 

 Cephalothorax the eye-tubercle is distinctly vis- 

 ible, and the points indicating the ocelli are 

 readily distinguished ; the ridges marking the 

 position of the lateral ej'es are visible, but the 

 ocelli cannot be distinguished. As the inside 

 of the abdominal plates is seen for about one- 

 third of their width along the right side of the 

 specimen, the spiracles ought to be shown, if 

 they ever existed. Points which may have 

 been spiracles are faintly visible ; but the 

 actual openings must have been ver}^ obscure, 

 if present at all. The crust of the specimen 

 is smooth, and destitute of the elaborately 

 granulose ornamentation which characterizes 

 the Swedish specimen : consequently the ob- 

 scurer features would be more easily detected. 

 But the specimen being so extremely flattened 

 and small, renders other features more difficult 

 of recognition. There is one feature shown 

 in which this species differs very materially 

 from living forms of the group. The limbs 

 are crowded forward. The coxa and second 

 joint (trochanter) of the posterior limb ap- 

 pear from beneath the edge of the first dorsal 

 segment, on the left side ; the end of the sec- 

 ond ventral segment (b) is equal in extent to 

 the end of the second dorsal segment, and of 

 the same length antero-posteriorl}'. In the 



