MARCH 21, 1884.] 
face dotted with hillocks, like rifle-pits, caused by 
the up-turned roots of large trees, of which no other 
vestige remains. In the eastern part of Bradford 
county were extensive ancient windfalls, still recol- 
lected by the older inhabitants, where now is a fine, 
well-cultivated farming-country; and in the south- 
western part of the same county a tornado of a later 
date left a long, straight path through the pine tim- 
ber, which was known as the ‘ Devil’s Lane.’ I have 
seen the track of an extensive tornado in the forest 
of one of the Alleghany Mountain counties of this 
state. I have reports of others in West Virginia and 
in Indiana, and of very numerous ones in the vast 
forests of Lower Canada, in New Brunswick, and 
Nova Scotia. Every hunter and Jumberman who 
has travelled through the forests is familiar with 
these evidences of more or less ancient tornadoes, 
and of afew in later times. From their occurring in 
uninhabited regions, and from their not being at- 
tended with loss of life or improvements, no accounts 
of them are to be found, and the traditions of them 
are soon forgotten. In the further study of this in- 
teresting subject, these fossilized tornadoes, so to 
speak, should not be overlooked. The tornadoes of 
Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, and Georgia, 
are probably only repetitions of what has at long inter- 
vals occurred fortuitously in all parts of our country. 
JAMES MACFARLANE. 
Towanda, Penn., March 11. 
[Windfalls are the subject of Tornado circular No. 
12, which may be obtained on application to the chief 
signal-officer, U.S. Army, Washington. Information 
concerning the location, direction, length and width, 
and, if possible, also the date, of these old tornado- 
tracks, is much desired. ] 
Remains of a prehistoric tree. 
While making some assays for the Oregon iron and 
steel company, during the past summer, I was often 
in the mines of the company at Oswego, eight miles 
south from Portland, Ore. 
Being on one occasion about five hundred feet 
down the main gangway, my attention was called 
to a curious ‘hole in the roof.’ On examination, I 
found it to be a perpendicular cylindrical cavity in 
the roof-rock, in diameter about ten inches. Upon 
feeling the walls of the cavity, I found the surface 
somewhat rough, like the bark of a tree. Intro- 
ducing a lamp, I could discern small indentations 
corresponding to the knots and twigs upon the 
trunks of trees. I was convinced that the hole had 
once been occupied by a tree, and, procuring a 
jointed pole, probed the cavity to a height of twenty- 
two feet. Toward the top the indentations became 
more numerous; and, by replacing the stiff pole by a 
flexible bamboo, the side orifices could be probed to 
a depth of two or three feet, and seemed to have a 
slight inclination (see figure). 
Examining the ore on roof and sides, I was re- 
warded by finding a network of roots, which retained 
their original forms perfectly, although petrified. I 
procured one specimen an inch and a half in diame- 
ter. An analysis of it showed the material occupy- 
ing the position of the original bark to be kaoline; 
it being perfectly white, and about a quarter of an 
inch in thickness. Inside this ring of kaoline the 
wood had been replaced by iron ore, not differing 
from that of the surrounding vein. 
Above and below the ore I found no roots; the tree 
having grown in the space now occupied by the ore- 
vein, and at an inclination toit. The strata dip to the 
north at an angle of 35° to the horizon. 
SCIENCE, 
B47 
Immediately under the ore is a stratum of scoriae 
one to three feet in thickness. Below this is hard, 
compact basalt. The roof of the mine is ‘ green- 
stone,’ decomposed by heat to coarse sand-rock im- 
mediately over the ore. The ore-vein averages five 
feet and a half in thickness. 
woo be 
SECTION IN MINE AT OSWEGO, ORE. 
1, ‘greenstone;’ 2, sand-rock; 3, gangway; 4,scoriae; 4, basalt; 
6, ore-vein. 
At six hundred feet I found pieces of wood not 
petrified, and in a good state of preservation, some 
parts showing acharred surface. I found afterwards, 
in other parts of the mine, several smaller orifices in 
the roof-rock, and similar to that described above. 
HAROLD B. NYE. 
Congenital deafness in animals. 
Mr. Lawson Tait, quoted by Professor Bell in 
Science, No. 54, says that ‘congenital deafness is not 
known to occur in any animal but the cat.’ In con- 
tradiction to this statement, Dr. Burnett has reported 
to you (No. 57) the cases of two deaf dogs; and I 
now refer you to the mention of a deaf-mute cow in 
Dr. Haubner’s ‘ Bericht tiber veterinarwesen,’ quoted 
in the ‘Organ der taubstummen- und blinden-anstal- 
ten in Deutschland,’ vol. xxv. p. 176. This cow was 
twelve years old, and had been in the possession of 
the same owner since she was three weeks old. She 
was perfectly deaf to all sounds. At feeding-time, 
or when a calf was taken away from her, she made 
the same demonstrations that other cows do, stretch- 
ing out her head and neck, and opening her mouth 
wide as if to bellow, but only making a short, deep, 
gurgling sound, very different from the ordinary low- 
ing of cattle. Her sight was good, and she was an 
intelligent animal. Nothing abnormal could be dis- 
covered in her ears or throat. Her color is not men- 
tioned. She had had eight calves: but whether these 
inherited their parent’s deafness is not known; for 
in this case the danger, if such a danger existed, 
of ‘the formation of a deaf variety’ of the bovine 
race was effectually prevented by the early butcher- 
ing of the calves. EDWARD ALLEN FAY. 
National deaf-mute college, Washington, D.C., 
March 14. 
Muraenopsis. 
Is it not by mistake that you state, in the review of 
‘Yarrow’s check-list’ (Science, No. 56, p. 264), that 
the generic name ‘ Muraenopsis’ must be suppressed 
because ‘ pre-occupied among the eels’? , The name 
was first applied to eels by Kaup (1856, ‘ Catalogue of 
apodal fish,’ p. 11), though credited by him to Le 
Sueur. The latter, however, did not use it. His 
name was ‘ Muraenophis’ (1825, Journ. Philad. acad., 
v. p. 107), or ‘ Muronaephis’ (l.c., pl. iv.), or ‘ Muroe- 
nophis’ (l.c., index). Kaup’s error was copied by 
